Discworld RPG : Part Two
by Mrs Wizzard
Summary: yes, we're back, with new characters and a new story, follow the story of an undead watch officer, two mysterious werewolves, two equally mysterious cats, an ambitious young dwarf, a fiendish assassin, a kindly wizard, and his newest young apprentice
1. Chapter 1

**Yes, we're back, and we've got new characters and a new story, thanks again to the good boardies at the TerryPratchettBooks Message Boards for letting me post our story, some of the characters are the same, but most of us decided to mix things up a little bit, if you're interested in doing this, come by the message boards, we're well into part three, but we're always looking for new players, the characters are listed below, followed by the people who play them, so, sit back, relax, and enjoy our latest eighty or so pages of insanity **

**Broc ~ **_**SGT. Knocker **_

**Jeannie ~ **_**Jeannie **_

**Snuffles ~ **_**Maz aka Helicopterpassoverhead **_

**Twilight ~ **_**Mrs Wizzard **_

**Orcakeline ~ **_**The Little A-M Dwarf **_

**Mark ~ **_**Fiendish Mark **_

**Patrick ~ **_**Thumpy **_

**Jake ~ **_**Jake **_

**Mina ~ **_**Mina **_

Broc chased after a thief. Again. The thief ducked into a crowed and started to go for the 'Drum so as a last ditch effort Broc ripped off his arm and threw it. but since he threw it with his left hand instead of right he missed the thief and hit someone else.

"CRAP! Some one stop him. STOP HIM!"

There was a small cafe in a narrow street in the heart of the city of Ankh Morpork. Sergeant Jeannie of the Watch sat on her usual table, eating her breakfast whilst reading this mornings copy of the Times.

It had been a few months since she had first arrived in the city, and as she sat watching the early morning activity she again marvelled at just how quickly the city had recoverd from the fire that had devastated it a short time ago. Today was supposed to be her day off but any watchman knows that is never really true, a small part of any copper is always on duty. For now however she enjoyed the relative peace and quiet as she sipped her coffee and wondered what the day ahead would bring...

A pitch-black large tomcat, with the rare grey-ish spot quietey sneaked into the room. It had managed to survive in Ankh-Morpork, which made it what not-Morporkians would call a _huge evil b****** of a monster_ but wo what a true Morporkian would refer to as _a kitty_ . Life was hard here, and due to a surprising lack of scars in important parts of the body (head, back, belly) it could still appear 'cute'. For a given value of 'cute'.  
Now was the time for some 'cute' body-language. Threatening body-language would not result in food or milk with this specimen, it didn't feel right. Animals can recognise fellow brethren of the animal kingdom, cause of birth instincts and suchlike.  
Jeannie let out a dampened shriek when a ice-cold nose was pressed against her foot.  
_Ok, now._ thought the cat. _Cute._  
Puppy-dog eyes appeared as if by magic on the cats face. Well, kitty-cat eyes, to be precise.

_Bloody hell! That's a very cold nose. I can feel it through my boot!_

Jeannie looked down at the cat, felines had never botherd her much...except for one particularly large and un-nerving tomcat she had encounterd in Lancre during her travels before arriving in Ankh Morpork. When the cat had turned into a very naked and very masculine man she had decided she had seen enough...literally

She watched this one intently for a while, showing no sign of doing anything even remotley un-catlike it retained all four legs and the pleading look in its eyes. Sighing, she dropped the sausage from her breakfast infront of the cat and watched as it gobbled it up

Twilight roamed the city, absently playing with a loose thread on her dress. She continued with this until a familiar scent filled her nose. A sound rose from her throat that could almost be classified as a 'purr' When she realized this she stopped herself.

_No, you can't steal a fish, humans don't do that, remember?_

She shook herself out of it and continued walking along.

Twilight was a..special kind of creaure. She was a werecat..sort of. Actually, she was a reverse werecat..again, sort of. She was born a calico cat. But, due to a magical accident she'd rather not get into, she can now switch from cat to human at her own will.

She seemed a bit nervous right now. A few months ago the city had somehow caught fire and now she was paranoid and hated being startled. This is proven as the sound of a dog bark involuntarily transformed her into a small cat dashing across the road in terror. By the way, she's afraid of dogs.

Rounding a corner, she used her front paws as a sort of break and listened. She couldn't hear anything chasing her. Feeling relieved she looked up and found she had convienently stopped in front of the fish stall.

_Well, I guess I can steal it now,_ she thought happily. When the merchant had his back turned she, in one leap, grabbed a salmon and landed back onto the ground. It was at that moment the merchant noticed her.

"Hey, you!" he cried. With the salmon still in her mouth, Twilight turned and ran as fast as she could, the merchant still in pursuit. The nearest hiding spot was a cafe. Running inside, she dashed to the back corner and began to nibble the fish.

Sitting in the small cafe watching the cat demolish the sausage Jeannie rememberd she needed to stop off at the post office. She had a letter that needed posting to Sto Lat, a good friend of hers had moved back there after the fire and they kept in touch with regular letters.

It seemed much longer than a few months ago. Alot of things had changed since then. Jeannie had learnt many things from Commander Vimes, she had been in melees and bar brawls (to break them up, not to join in) where the things Vimes had taught her had been _extremely_ useful. She made plenty of arrests and a few friends.  
Jeannie had learnt many things about the city and had developed a strange fondness for the place.

Jeannie was about to get up and leave when something caught her eye as it dashed into the cafe. She watched the small cat scurry into a corner at the back and shrugged.

Cats in a city were not uncommon, there was enough vermin for them to live off. Something about this cat struck her though. As a werewolf her senses were finely tuned and this one had a strange feel and scent about it. So instead of leaving, for now Jeannie sat and watched the two cats who had interrupted her breakfast

The tomcat retreated a bit from the other feline, she didn't look right. Just to be sure, he gobbled up the remaining sausages and, remembering that, after all, the other cat was just a cat, let out a warning 'meow', laden with just enough spit to appear dangerous, but not enough to provoke.  
_Just a cat._ he repeated to himself. _What else could it be? Just a cat, just a cat..._

Broc had finally gotton a hold of the thief. (though only after throwing every availble body part availble.) and was limping (one leg wasnt sewed on right.) toward his favorite cafe to follow up on a lead in a murder case. And this wasnt even the usual case of Ankh-Morpork suicide. The young man by the name of Richard Dublin had died of natural causes, natural causes possibly including a sword throught the chest. Cherry hadnt found anything, and Angua hadnt smelled anything suspicious. even more perplexing to Broc was the day that Richard died was the day Broc had found out that Richard was a link to Broc finding out about why a assissan was hired to kill his former employer.

Things were not going right for Broc today.

In the same cafe sergeant Jeannie was staring at the cats,in the other side of the small building,a little Ankh-Morpork dwarf,called dwarf was a female,but looked alot like a instaid of being as fat as a usual dwarf she looked quit slim.  
She was looking around the cafe,when she saw the scene with the cats and thought:

_That cat looks quit familiar to me...mhmmm...I think I saw it on an alley...But where?..._

After Orcakeline looked at the table that Sergeant Jeannie was sitting,she remembered that somebody still owed her one dollar,even though that person was a good old friend,she actually had a tiny little image of her cutting her friends legs...but the image disappeared quickly,because after all,they were good old friends and Orcakeline wasn't sadistic.

The cat retreated at the sight of the dwarf, after all this was the last person to have thought of him (the cat) as a 'pet'.  
Well, he was in a room with two weird half-human wossnames and ... he shuddered ... an _owner_ .  
Panicking, he retreated, ready to climb up the curtains in a matter of seconds and retreat to the reassuring upside-downess of the ceiling.

When the tomcat had hissed at her Twilight had felt a bit intimidated, but seeing it trying to climb onto the ceiling seemed a bit pathetic to her. She sniggered at it in the way only a cat could.

The zombie and the dwarf that were now in the room didn't concern Twilight. She never had to deal with someone taking her home. The nametag on a purple ribbon around her neck wasn't what kept them away. She'd dealt with literal cat burgalars. If someone really suspicious tried to take her she'd turn from a cute sweet kitty to a clawing alleycat. Regular people were okay sometimes. She could always sneak away after a free meal.

Seeing the tomcat act like a fraidy-kitten amused Twilight to no end. Standing up from the fish, she strode over and rubbed up against the sitting human girl's legs, if only to annoy the tomcat.

_what the...?_

Most cats tended to be upset by her, being a super-naturally strong predator with jaws that can break bone can tend do that to other creatures. This one however either didn't notice or wasn't bothered

Watching the tomcat apparently trying to defy gravity she absent mindedly reached down and scratched between the cats ears.

_I really must get to the post office soon, I might catch the first mail run to Sto Lat_

Jeannie stood up to leave the cafe

Well, that was it. How dare she! The tomcat leaped down from the ceiling, but because cats mysteriously lose any sense of orientation and balance in certain moments (like when they are filmed) he landed on Jeannies head, slipped off, fell on the table, darted off into a corner, then into the opposite corner, but bumped into the target he wanted to hit in the first place, only that this time it was an accident.  
Thats animal instincts for you.

Almost as soon as Jeannie had stood up she had the sensation that someone was trying to push a dozen pins into her scalp.

"Ouch! What the..."

The cat fell from her head onto the table and proceeded to charge around the room bumping into various heard a faint sound from the smaller cat down by her feet, Jeannie was sure it was sniggering.

Slightly dazed Jeannie just stared until the tomcat eventually came to its target

A young watchman, whose face was mostly obscured by his helmet, came running up to Jeannie and bounced off a wall , falling to the floor with a "huff" the helmet, which was obviously at least four sizes to large, span gently. A moment later though the young man stood up and lifted his helmet for a brief instant to check that he was standing before Jeannie and revealed a quite startling pair of different coloured eyes, the left was blue and the right was brown. The eye disappeared though, as did most everything else and he began to speak, his voice was slightly muffled but clear.

"Sergeant you asked to be told when there was any activity at the new Von Uberwald house. A coach has just arrived, couldn't see who it was, the windows were blacked out and the gates closed on us."

Saluting he went to leave the place, smacked into a beam and spun till he faced the entrance, then rushed out at full tilt.

The Von Uberwald house had been rebuilt to the exact same specifications, including the dry rot and chipped bricks. You had to be rich to do a bad job of a house and it would seem that the Von Uberwalds were very rich. The house was an impressive and imposing estate, surrounded by gardens. As the small group disembarked from the coach, footman came and took luggage, the small group moved into the house, trialling behind them were two large black wolves that appeared totally relaxed, although one got the feeling that should they see something they did not approve it, it would not be there for very long.

He walked with confidence. A confidence that nobody would dare approach him. A confidence that can only be learned from an expensive education.  
The alley was dark. Refuse lined the walls as he came to a stop. He looked up, narrowed his eyes and leapt to a ledge with cat-like grace. A window appeared before him and after several seconds, the tip of his cloak disappeared over the top and into the darkness.

"I really must remember to take my keys next time" said Mark the Fiendish Assassin. He had a poor memory. It was evident by all the little slips of paper stuck to walls and iconographs of various well-to-do people of Ankh-Morpork. None of these people were living of course, he was pretty good at what he did.

"Time for breakfast methinks" and after locking some of his items away, he left via the front door that locked on his way out.

His keys were still on the table by the bed.

Jeannie got as far as "Thankyou consta..." before the young officer turned and made what would have been a hasty exit if he had manged to find the door on the first go.

She sat deep in thought for a few moments drumming her fingers on the table. Seeming to reach a decision she got up, paid her bill and left the cafe.

The streets were already becoming busier and the familiar sounds and smells of the daytime bustle were all around her. Waving to a few familiar faces Jeannie walked through the streets

Right before Broc went into the cafe a watchman came running out of the cafe and ran into Broc, who promptly became a pile of body parts.

"GODS D*MNIT, I HATE BEING A ZOMBIE!"

And because of his blashphmy, a lighting bolt shot out of the sky, aimed at Broc. But instead hit a passing citizen.

"HA! EVEN YOU GUYS CAN'T KILL ME!"

Broc felt slightly mollified.

But then it dawned on him he was still a pile of body parts. so he started shouting for help.

The tomcat had left the cat and was aimlessly, but seemingly purposefully, walking through the streets, as cats often do.  
He suddendly bumped into a rotten smell and saw, after rounding a corner, a pile of body parts on the floor. He walked over to them and pressed his nose against the face of the ... head and let out what seemed to be an evil snigger.

Fiendish Mark the Assassin headed for his local cafe. Assassins were not regular patrons of this eating establishment, but Mark was raised in the area and Harga was a old friend.  
Assassins had lots of friends.  
It was enemies they generally lacked in but this could only be a good thing, right?

"Morning Mr Harga, you're looking well today" stated Mark in his pleasant tone, "I'll have the breakfast special please, with extra ketch-up."

Fiendish Mark surveyed his surroundings. It looked like it was going to be another normal day. Maybe today he would buy that thingy he was looking at in the wossname yesterday.

Twilight was dazed when the tomcat hit her and left beofore she could regain her footing, which was actually a lot harder when you had four of them to refoot. When she caught her balance she growled which seemed quite menacing for a cat.

_I'll get him for that. Wait til I turn human next time I see him. I have_ thumbs!

Looking up where the girl was once sitting was now a man. That dumb cat must've scared her off. After a few moments of thought, Twilight seemed to reach a decision. Cat was her true form, afterall.

Walking up to the new guy, Twilight gave in to any house cat's urges and rubbed up against his legs.

Patrick woke up and climbed out of bed, careful not to hit his head on the low ceiling. A wash up and clean robe made him look almost presentable as he headed out to Second Breakfast. It had been a long night with all the work he'd been given; his new boss was certainly a task-master.

_I've only been a here a few months, but if this is the way it's going to be I might have to escape the "easy university life". Mum will be upset though..._

Making his way to one of the tables, he found his customary seat next to his mentor and, for lack of a better word, boss.

"Morning Professor Rincewind."

The wizard looked up from his plate long enough to grunt a greeting.

Searching the table for anything remotely edible this early in the morning, Patrick tried to make small talk.

"So, um..sir, if you don't mind my asking - what exactly am I supposed to do with that box you gave me last night? I mean it's not very useful is it? Too small to put anything in and no lock even if you did. I could barely get my hand in there to -

"No!" blurted out Rincewind. "Gods no! Never put your fingers in there. No telling where they might end up - or when!"

Gaining some composure, the wizard lowered his voice a bit, "I told you yesterday - just bury the damn thing! Get it away from the University, the city, people - especially me and just bury the thing. Then forget where you left it! Pass the rolls please."

Patrick passed the plate after grabbing one for himself. A stray thought crawled across his brain in search of a home. "Well, uh, sir...that might take some...travel. I could be gone for some time. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but..."

"Yes, yes, whatever! I suppose you'll be wanting a horsey or something as well?"

_Yay! Travel! Adventure! My own horse...never actually ridden one, but still. _

Patrick let a smile creep onto his face momentairly; "Well, if you think that's best then Professor. When do I leave?"

"Hmm? What? You're still here?

Orcakeline saw the strange tomcats jump onto the ceiling isn't a very common thing to do.  
The little dwarf swung it's axe and prepared to leave but she still had in mind to took the bill,gave the money...but in this time she saw the tomcats eyes and she had another memory popping out f her head...

It was a foggy night,in a bar in Ankh-Morpork...She was at a table with her best friend, two of them had a gooooood bear and they were ready to leave,but Orcakelines friend took another beer and so on and so fourth ...But in the end,Implosia-Fraken had to borrow one buck from the so Orcakeline left the bar after a long and warm hug for that cold she went away,in the alley,she saw a cat that stared at her with eyes that made her remember some of her deepest memories she had ever had...

When Orcakeline was small,her father once came at home with a small kitten,that was very cute..Orcakeline played with that cat years and years until she grew older ..Than she had no more interests in the cat and didn't pay too much attention at the cat...And that is why one rainy night the cat disappeared and never came back...But so went all the happy memories of the and with the tomcat (now)... She couldn't even remember the cat's name,neither where she had put a few things that the cat always showed her,making her remember...

_Miss,here's your change.._ ...heard Orcakeline while she was still remembering things and regaining her thoughts ...  
_Oh,Yeah...Thanks..._ ..  
And then she left,still swinging her axe backwards and forth ...

After being chased out by the cafe owner, (apparently customers don't enjoy cat hair in their food), Twilight walked around the city basically looking for something to do. Rounding a corner she noticed something. It looked like a human had collapsed in the middle of the road. Litterally, it looked like a big three dimensional human puzzle. And there was that cat! Twilight wasn't known for backing out of a catfight so she ran over and hissed menacingly at the black tomcat.

The cat jumped up in surprise in a way only cats can, twisting in the air so it now faced what was once its back.  
Well, he'd been through much worse catfights. Probably.  
Hiss, cough, cough, spit out furball, embarassed hiss.

It didn't take long before Jake was on the streets of Ankh-Morpork and he had to admit, it was nice to be back. The past couple of months in Uberwald had done him good though. He looked stronger, more graceful and more like a predator, but the mongrel in him was still there, if you looked hard enough. His attire was sombre, loose fitting but far more elegant than he had worn previously. The shirt was a dark blue and the trousers were black and over the top was a black travelling cloak with, what looked like silver embroidery around the collar, but anyone that knew anything about the Von Uberwalds knew that it could not be silver.

He did have a destination, he was going to see one Mr Slant and deliver a very personal document to the Zombie, but he was taking his time and stretching his legs around the city. True it hadn't been his decision to come down to Ankh-Morpork, the family seemed to see their house here as a place to send the young to recover from falling in love with the wrong person, but a part of him was certainly glad to be back. He noted idly that he was passing the old guest house he had rented a room in, it seemed like a very long time ago and yet it had only been a few months back, but so much had happened since then.

Jeannie walked through the streets of the city that she now called home. Over the past few months she had occasionally thought about returning to Uberwald but there was a part of her that never wanted to go back, at least for now. So she had asked for a transfer to the Ankh Morpork watch and life had been pretty good to her in the past few months.

As it was her day off she wore her preferred outfit of brown soft leather trousers and a fitted white shirt that flattered her slim figure. Because it was fairly late in the year and there was a chill in the air she also wore her favourite leather cape, it had a hood on it which fell behind her shoulders now covered by her long blonde hair

Jeannie took a right turn at the end of the street and continued on her way, there was alot she wanted to do today. As she walked she saw Tim out on his rounds, he was the postman who deliverd to her street. Jeannie smiled in greeting

"Morning Tim, any post for me this morning?"

"Wotcha Jeannie, yup got a letter here for ya."

"Thanks"

Jeannie took the letter and said goodbye, as she walked she opened the rather crumpled envelope and read the contents. She was so intent on the letter that she didn't look where she was going

Following his breakfast, Patrick ran to his little room - a cupboard actually and began to rummage.

_Anything for a few days away from here! Maybe a few months...a year?_

He had a large pack for his clothes and other useful items that he still hadn't completely emptied from his arrival. A smaller bag could be worn around the waist. Besides a bedroll that was it. A far cry from what he was used to at home, but he could make do.

A knock at the door interrupted his cheerful humming.

"Ah good day to you...er...um -

It was the Arch Chancellor himself, come to see Patrick off no doubt.

"Patrick, sir."

"Ah yes, well Peter, let me just say that we appreciate you volunteering for this sui..um...mission! We shall remember you fondly!"

Patrick caught that.

"Well, I didn't exactly volunteer now did I? But if it's all the same to you I think a trip would be good right about now. By the way, you said you'd all remember me fondly? Why? You don't think I'll be -

"Nonsense my dear boy! Utter nonsense don't listen to them! You'll be back with us in no time at all. I mean that. No time. Now, here is something else for you to take on your trip. Since you are doing the business of UU, we have provided you with some money - I know, it's only paper, but from what I hear it's going to be the thing from now on."

Reaching into his large robe, Ridcully pulled out a second envelope. "And this, is for dire emergencies only. Shouldn't have to use it for a day or two at most. Just show that to anyone that gives you some trouble and you'll soon be on your way."

Without another word the wizard turned and left apparently deciding the converstaion was eneded.

Patrick pocketed both the money and the envelope before turning to put the box in his pack.

Where was it?

Mark the Fiendish Assassin finished his breakfast, wiped the ketch-up from his mouth (possibly tomato but he couldn't remember seeing any in the city) and left the money under the plate.

_A little stroll down Filigree Street and a chat with some old friends and then time for bed methinks_ thought Mark.

He left with a sweep of his cloak (because Assassins are walking style) and proceeded to grace Short Street with his presence as he ha planned.

Little did he know that today his bedtime would be a little longer in coming...

Jake spotted her as she walked, she was reading something while she strolled, never a good idea. Again he reminded himself of the short months that he had spent outside of the city, it seemed that he had forgotten what she looked like, she looked good out of uniform. Of course the inevitable happened, a watchman with an over-sized helmet seemed to rugby tackle Jeannie, barrelling into her over-sized helmet first. The pair went crashing to the ground. Whatever Jeannie had been reading flew from her hands and got caught by the breeze spiralling upwards. Jake noted that the watchman with the over-sized helmet had not lost it, instead it was spinning gently as he lay on top of Jeannie. The letter fluttered down to his feet and leant over and picked it up. The watchman appeared to be rather dazed and stood up with apologies before falling backwards, obviously still stunned. Jake couldn't stop himself from chuckling at the extraordinary scene.

Jeannie sat up, slightly dazed after the collision. Looking around for the letter she berated the young officer

"Gods damn it constable!What have I told you about..."

Hearing someone chuckling she looked up and saw him, watching the whole scene in obvious amusement.

Seeing Jake stood there took her by surprise, it seemed a long time since he had left the city when in reality it had only been a few months. There were a few subtle differences about him but he looked well. She gave him an embarrassed smile and stood up dusting off her clothes before walking over to him

"Hello Jake...it's good to see you again"

Jake nodded politely

"It's good to see you, seems like a long time. I must say it's good that you put on these little street shows for passing citizens."

He gestured towards the constable who was just getting up. He hoisted up his helmet, it slipped back down again, there was now a dent in it.

"I'm just going to see Mr Slant, do you fancy a walk, you can tell me what's been happening in the city. It looks good after the fire, it's as if it never happened."

Jeannie gave Jake a 'look' paired with a raised eyebrow

"Street shows huh? Well, I'm glad it amused you. It certainly didn't feel so funny to me..ouch"

She rubbed her bruised backside and looked over at the constable. He was certainly they could get him to slow down a bit he could make a very good copper one her head at the sight of him wrestling with the helmet Jeannie sighed.

"We keep telling him he can get a smaller helmet from the armory but he insists that one is lucky. I've yet to see how he came to that conclusion."

She looked around, where had her letter gone!

"Yeah ok, I'll walk with you but first I just need to find somthing"

Jake held out the folded piece of parchment.

"Is this what you were looking for?"

He looked at the constable as he held out the letter

"And I wouldn't say it wasn't lucky, the guy's still alive because of it. I wonder if he's ever thought of going into sports."

The constable ran off and Jake watched him as he disappeared down the street, there was a loud crash and Jake winced.

"Ow, that's really got to hurt the poor guy."

The constable had managed to run into a low hanging iron beam, he had kept running though, although to be fair it was in a different direction.

"I wonder if he knows where he is going?"

He thought to himself and then turned back when he felt Jeannie take the letter.

"So who's it form then? A Mystery lover?"

Jeannie took the letter, refolded it and slipped it into her back pocket. She smiled at Jakes question and coloured slightly

"Just a an old...friend"

She would finish reading it later, when there was no danger of being tackled by hyper-active watchmen. Anxious to move away from the amused faces who had watched the collision Jeannie gestured in the direction of Slants offices

"Well, then lets be on our way shall we?"

As they walked Jeannie let her curiosity get the better of her

"So what brings you back to the city? Have the rest of your family come with you?"

Broc had finnaly gotten him self back togather. by himself (you DO NOT want to know how)  
Well mostly togather. some little bugger had taken off with one of his arms. with a large amount of effort Broc leaped, tackled the kid into two pedesterins standing in the street.  
He started to appoligize

"sorry sir, mam, but this little bugg-"

And looked into the face of someone he thought he would never see again.

"Jake!"

Broc then seemed to realize that he was still lying on top of Jake.

"Sorry. oh you too sergent. this little kid just took my arm. Oh and sergent i need to talk to you. urgently."

he turned to Jake.

"its good to have you back my friend."

Mark was on Short Street.  
It was a very long street, lined with a great many traders, workshops and other offices, some even trading honestly.  
A noise drew his attention and as his gaze located the commotion he thought he saw a face from the past in the distance. A watchman ran into him, or would have done if Mark hadn't stepped out of the way in time but accidentally left his foot in the way on purpose. He wasn't that keen on The Watch. They asked questions that Mark the Fiendish Assassin was not at liberty to answer.  
The constable tried to look round to work out why he had fallen, but his helmet was in the way and Mark was now moving quicker up the street looking for his ghost.

A ball of fur was rolling in random patterns across the alleyways of Ankh-Morpork, letting out hissess and noises which can not possibly be articulated on paper and leaving a trail of furballs behind.  
When the ball hit a pair of feet it was clear that it had consisted of Two Cats Fighting, but which were now trying to untangle themselves from the aforementioned persons trousers. A black tomcat with a confused expression was having considerable difficulties trying to unhook one of its claws from the aforementioned piece of clothing.  
The three assembled humanoids looked at the scene with interest

Now it was Jeannies turn to chuckle as no sooner had Jake got up from being knocked over by Broc but he then had a cat fight roll into his legs and the two cats had become attached to his trousers.

As Jake tried to disentangle himself from the furious felines, Jeannie asked Broc what it was he wanted to talk to her about so urgently

Broc smiled at the catfight but took a long step back. Claws could be murder on dead skin.  
Turning to Jeannie he asked

"um, I would...um...I...wouldliketoleavethewatch."

The last part came in a jumble. He really didnt want to do it...but Broc had to find his killer and find out why it had happened.

Patrick made his way out into the stable yard to find his new horse. Rincewind and the others were conspicuously absent and even the stable hands were suddenly busy with other things as he approached.

Finding his horse well equipped for travel, he added his own pack to the saddle and decided to walk the beast out of the yard.

_No use falling off in front of everyone. I'll wait until I'm somewhere more secluded..._

Walking out the gate, he entered the city for the first time since he arrived. The last view he'd had of the place was at night just after a fire had ripped through. Oh, and a flood.

He'd almost heard the gate close behind him when a voice suddenly brought him back; it was Ponder Stibbons.

"Patrick! Patrick, thank the gods you hadn't left yet. Saves me a trip. Be so kind as to take this letter to the Watch House at Pseudopolis Yard will you? It must get to Sam Vimes. If you don't see him, just listen for his voice. I'm told it can carry for miles. Thank you."

Patrick took the envelope and was about to say good bye, but once again, the conversation was apparently cut off on him as Stibbons squeezed through the opening and disappeared into the University.

Still holding the reins of his horse in his free hand, he realized that 1) he had no idea where the Watch House was and 2) he'd have to come up with a name for the horse eventually.

Placing the letter in his pocket he set off...again.

Little 6 year old Mina had been standing at the corner of the street watching the events with interest for some minutes now.  
Mina lived in one of the poor areas of Ankh-Morpork with her mother, and often wandered around during the day while her mother was working.

Charlie had just gone off with that strange man's arm! Mina walked up to the man, tugged on his other arm and said  
'Urghhh! Why did your arm come off? Charlie's got it. Charlie's my friend.' having said this important fact, Mina noticed the cats with a squeal of excitement. She pulled one over to her by the tail, and picked the struggling cat up in a tight grip.  
'Nice kitty! Meowwww!'

Mina patted the hissing animal firmly on the head.  
'goog pussy!'

The tomcat was deperately (but uselessely) flailing in the air with all its limbs, while twisting in odd angles and shapes.  
After a while it realised that this was useless and that the only means of escape was by being a 'goog kitty', so it tried to concentrate and stiffen its tail muscles so that the probability of landing head-first and tail-less on the ground was as small as possible.  
The tomcat was now stiff as a rock in the hands of the horrible, little biped.

All of it had happened so _fast_ First Twilight was hissing at the tomcat, then in a fight with him, and now she was watching as a little girl was cuddling it obviously to the tomcat's displeasure.

In a very odd series of meows the calico was on the ground laughing her tail off. She was aware of the other people around her, but the sight of the other cat was too much.

Mina looked at the suddenly stiff and still kitty with concern.  
'Is pussy-cat ill?' She forced the cat down to the ground and picked it up under its arms so she could hug it. Maybe it needed a drink.

'Oh look! Your friend's laughing!' She told the cat.

She took the tomcat to the side of the pavement and forced it to drink the liquid trickling into the gutter by pushing its head in.

'Nice water! Go on kitty, drink! All better now!'

Maybe the other cat wanted a drink too. She went over and caught it in a strangle hold.  
'c'mere minou! Pretty cat, you want a drink too!'

Twilight nearly keeled over with kitty laughter until the girl grabbed her as well. As she was leifted off of her feet she looked to the others with a pleading "mew?"

As her head was dunked in the gutter Twilight thought, _Yeah, I probaly deserved that_

Forcibly inhaling the disgusting gutter water, Twilight pulled her head out and hacked up the foul liquid. Flailing her limbs about, Twilight made a desperate attempt to catch her breath.

Enough was enough, Twilight bit the small girl's hand until she was released. Dashing into the nearest alley, Twilight changed into her human form. She hand't been a werehuman long, so it was still hard to walk on two legs, but the good thing was her clothes somehow always appeared on her when she changed. She always figured this worked the same way with how a werewolf magically grows fur when it changes.

Walking out of the alley, she appeared to be a fifteen year old girl. She was still hacking up the water.

The tomcat escaped from the vile human being the moment it let go of him and ran off into an alley, slipping occasionally.

'Waaaaah! Bad, naughty cat!' sobbed Mina. Mina pulled the other cat towards her and stroked it clumsily, forcing its hind legs down into a sitting position.

'But you're not like that horrid cat are you?' Mina told it, 'You're a nice good cat.' And with this, she extracted half a ham sandwich from her pocket and fed it to him, big fat tears still rolling down her cheeks.

She hardly noticed the cat escape from her grip.

As the tomcat ran for it Twilight unsteadily walked over to the little girl, who was apparently still crying, and offered her a handkerchief and a bandage for her hand. It was the least she could do for biting her, afterall

Mina looked up as a handkerchief was offered her. Sniffing, she wiped her tears away and said  
'A cat bited me. It was a laughing cat and bad, it hurt me lots, look!'  
And she showed the bemused girl with the handkerchief the slightly bleeding bite-mark. She looked on with approval as the girl bandaged it up for her.  
'nk you.' She said suddenly shy. 'I'm Mina, I'm six, who are you? Are you a strange lady?

Twilight smiled at the small girl. She thought the girl to be kind of cute, now that she wasn't trying to make her drink gutter water, anymore.

"E'm Twilight," she said. Speaking was pretty hard to get the hang of, as well. "E'm fiteen. 'nd yes, E'm kinda strange..inna way." _If you consider not actually being a human strange,_ she finished in her mind.

'Oh' said Mina.  
_Mummy said I shouldn't talk to strange people._

'I don't think my mummy likes you. Did you know you talk funny?' Mina looked round nervously to see if she could still see Charlie. She remembered something and giggled.  
'My friend Charlie stole that man's arm!' She giggled again.

Twilight gave a small laugh.

"Yes, Aye know Aye tawk funee. 'Nd that man apppears to bee a zombee." She turned back to Mina. "Who's Charlee?"

Mina's eyes grew big: she had never seen a zombie before!  
'He's a zombie?' She asked amazed, 'wow!' 'Charlie is my friend, he lives next to us. He stole a zombie's arm but now he wants it back.'  
'Charlie's silly' she concluded after a moment.

Mina started to wonder if Charlie needed help to escape the zombie-man.  
'Are zombers dangerous?'

"No, zombies are not dangerous little girl" said Mark the Fiendish Assassin from behind her, "But they do tend to be a little bit tetchy when children steal their arms"

Mark had been watching the little girl with interest. She seemed to be a natural with animals, reminding him of his sister. Mark was not good with animals. Especially dogs.

"Did you see a member of the Watch walking this way with someone else?" He enquirted politely.

Jeannie, Broc and Jake had politely moved away from the strange goings on with the cats and the little girl and moved further down the street.

Jeannie had seen the smaller cat disspear spluttering gutterwater then a girl came walking out of the same alley also suspiciously spitting gutter water and was offering the little girl a bandage.

_Aha! I knew there was somthing odd about that cat. Never heard of a feline bi-morph though..._

Now though Jeannie stood with her back to them as she spoke to Broc about his request to leave the watch, so she didn't see the Assassin approach the group further down the street.

"Ok Broc, well you know I can't give you permission to leave. You'll have to take that to the Captain or the Commander. May I ask why you want to leave so suddenly? You seem flustered about something."

It seemed strange how there was so much space in this city and yet everyone appeared to want to occupy the bit he was in. Broc had been the first and as he had right himself and the enthusiastic zombie, without the latter falling to pieces a spinning ball of fur, claws and teeth had assaulted him, destroying part of his trousers. Now Jake was used to having his clothes shredded, but usually he only had to get used to it being him that did it. As the small girl came and dragged off the cats, sticking their heads in the gutter etc, Jake felt a sense of justice and made sure the documents he was carrying were intact. Seeing the cat go into the alley and the woman come out, didn't think, as most humans did, that it must be two different occurrences. One thing you get used to as a werewolf was to see that happen a lot. Jake pointed the cat/woman out to Jeannie and as he did he noticed the Assassin. It had to be an Assassin, no other people in Ankh-Morpork walked like that, or had the thought that black and black was a good combination of dress.

During the last few months someone, and Jake suspected it had been one of the vampire families, had engaged the Assassins guild's services. However, astoundingly, the Assassin that had come after him had not realised that he was a werewolf, either that or the guild did not wish to make problems with the Von Uberwalds. Anyway Jake had hogged tied his assailant and mailed him back to the guild with the money to cancel his contract in the man's mouth. The Assassin had been perfectly alive, if a little indignant when he was placed in a box and since then he'd not heard anything from the guild since. He didn't know whether this Assassin was looking for him, but he decided he rather not have a conversation about why he had done it and he was already late for his appointment.

"I'm going ot have to go, I'm going to be late."

After some time had passed, Patrick wasn't sure if he was leading the horse or if maybe the horse only let him think that. It was quite clear however that Patrick had no idea where he was.

Up ahead he spied two girls talking and thought maybe they at least could point him in the right direction.

Walking closer he saw that one appeared to have dunked her head in a pond...

"Um...excuse me? Hi. I was hoping you may be able to point me in the direction of the Watch House?"

Patrick knew that walking through the city, any city, looking as if you didn't know where you were going only asked for trouble, but what harm could he come to from two girls?

He noticed his horse becoming just a tad bit nervous and tried to soothe the beast with some carefully offered sweets.

The little dwarf that had that stroke of memory in the middle of the conversation with the waitress ,went out of the cafe an while she was wondering through the labyrinth of alleyways of Ankh-Morpork she got in the same alley at the same time,where Twilight transformed back into a human...  
Orcakeline stood there and stared at the cat-woman and while she was talking with the girl,the little gray trousered dwarf that wore a brown big blouse and a big helmet with her big axe in her left hand approached the little Mina and asked her:

_Little,er,gal,where did that firrrst little tomcat go,after youuuu forced it to drink that horrid gray-transparent gutter-watter?Ey?I kinda need to know...Please.._

So after she said that she gave a big grin with a little smile so not to frighten the little girl..  
Orcakeline waited afterwards to see what the little six year old Mina had to say to that...

Their eyes met.  
Mark's eyes were thinking _those eyes look familiar but I'm not sure why_  
Jake's eyes were thinking _Oh no, not him again_

Mark stepped through the 2 girls and the dwarf as only an assassin can and narrowly avoided the wizard being towed by a horse. He had to find out who this man was and why he seemed so familiar. Something from a little while back possibly? Guild business probably had something to do with it, it was how he met most people, even if it was only temporarily.

He felt for the throwing knives up his sleeve.  
They were not there.  
He rummaged under his cloak for his sword.  
It was missing.  
A little flustered, he moved his hand behind his back to reach for his blowpipe, just in case.  
He found it.  
A search for his darts came up with a blank.  
_Bugger!_

_Nevermind_ He thought, _I'll just ask him if he recognises me, what could possibly go wrong_

But the man had disappeared, leaving just a broken zombie and a Watch Officer.

Jeannie nodded to Jake, it would have been nice to catch up as they had intended but she guessed she had better get to the bottom of this situation with Broc.

Bidding Jake goodbye, Jeannie turned back to Broc

"It is my day off you know" she said reproachfully "but I'm curious to find out what is going on. You're a good officer, it seems strange that you would want to just quit"

They needed to go to the watch house. Jeannie didn't have the authority to accept Broc resignation. Turning to head towards Pseudopolis yard Jeannie noticed the eye contact between Jake and the Assassin further down the street. Jake either didn't recognise the Assassin or just refused to acknowledge his presence.

Jeannie watched the him reaching into various pockets she tensed, waiting for the man in black to give her an excuse to nab him

_Oh no you don't pal!_

When it became apparent that he couldn't find what he was looking for, she decided to make sure the Assassin knew she had spotted what he was trying yet thankfully failing to do. Jeannie walked slowly down the street with her arms crossed and a look on her face that clearly said 'I've got nothing to pin on you yet, but I can find something'

The Assassin was lucky that he had drawn a blank with his weapons, he obviously had no idea what Jake was. Still proceeding slowly down the street Jeannie over heard the wizard asking directions. She sighed, well she was heading there anyway.

"We are going to the watch house now, you're welcome to come with us if you don't know the way"

But,nevertheless,I forgot to mention that the dwarf actually was responsible for waking up very early,at 5 a.m. and go feed the birds in the tower that was out of town very near to it,because of a deal she had with her former pet,a blue bird with white dots,and with a very long and green neck...a very funny bird indeed..So,the dwarf had to feed the birds because she once neglected her bird-pet and she couldn't get out into the big blue sky and stayed in house all day without eating anything at all..so since that happened,Orcakeline had to feed the birds for 1 years time..But while dwarf was on her fourth day in the tower feeding the birds,her pet ,Byurdy,came at the window where her relatives where being fed and told the dwarf :

_Because I am a very old bird,and already am 97 years old,my time has come...I,who was your faithful pet,now leave you with no other choice but to feed these relatives of mine till the bird in the middle will finish grinding the big statue in your garden!This is my last wish...Alas,I know say: Goodb..._

And this was the last thing that the dwarfs pet said..  
But the little bird that had to grind the statue already started ...  
Luckily,the dwarf could easily understand animal language.

Orcakeline got in the alley where Twilight was just preparing to transform because she was led by the sound of cats and thought (but was right to) that the tomcat was then she saw the puddle and guest why the feline bit the poor little girl and she was sure that the girl forced th tomcat to drink it to,because Orcakeline heard the tomcat say a shy ''meow'' and recognized the voice.

Mark the Fiendish Assassin watched The Watch officer watch him. He watched back, watching to see what she would do next*.  
She approached him, stopping to say something to the horse which was helping the wizard.  
_She was speaking to him, maybe she knows who he is_  
"Ah, my good Sergeant, I was wondering if you could assist me in a small identification matter?" enquired Mark most politely and with a winning smile on his face which only several lessons in Charisma for 6th Formers with Dr Den Tistry could provide.

*_This is getting silly now!_

Dressed in black, full of charm...everything an Assassin should be. Except he seemed to have forgotten the tools of his trade. A forgetful assassin? That must make contracts very interesting, Jeannie mused

Smiling back at him she replied

"Certainly sir...if I can"

"You can? Oh that is good" said Mark, "That young man you were talking to, do you know who he is, it's just that he seems familiar but I'm not sure why."

Something hit Mark. Fortunately, it wasn't an arrow.

"I think he maybe from out of town but from a very prominent family if that helps"

Jake wasn't sure why but he was surprised at the spacious and well appointed office of Mr Slant. He had been expecting a crypt like place with gothic candles, a greenish glow and a strong smell of mildew. Of course the smell of Mildew was concealed by the expensive cologne the zombie wore. The two sat in silence now for at les ten minutes as Mr Slant went over every paper he had been given.

"It would appear that your father wishes to acknowledge you as a member of the family. This of course means that, due to your half brother's unfortunate demise would make you the eldest child and so entitled to your father's estate upon his death. I believe you are also to take on the title of Lord Valker Jake Von Uberwald."

Jake winced at the mention of the name he had thought he had managed to expunge from the memory of all the people he had ever had contact with. Of course his father would have to remember it and make it his title. Of course wolves and dogs sniffed each others arses and growled and grunted to establish pack order, it would appear that his father use lawyers and had just catapulted his illegitimate son to his first in line heir. The only reason it could be was the rest of his father's children had been daughters…a very old fashioned werewolf it would appear.

"I will of course get everything in order and have the documents for you to sign within the next few days. Will you be staying within the city long?"

It was clear the way Mr Slant shuffled paper that he was only asking to make sure he sent the bill to the right place.

"I will be staying in Ankh-Morpork for a while, I haven't decided on a length yet."

The Zombie nodded and swept to his feet, wobbling slightly. Jake took the hand, very carefully as an image of Broc came to mind.

"It would appear you have ripped your trousers My Lord."

Jake looked down at the torn trouser leg.

"The city appears to have gone t o the cats."

It was a poor joke, but the Zombie managed a sycophantic titter.

Deciding that going back to the house would mean given reasons for why he was leaving, he went to the tailors he had used to use and asked if they had any trousers that might fit. He came out with a pair that weren't as well fitted as his previous pair, but on the up side the didn't have a waking great tear down one leg. Realising that the whole encounter wit the zombie and the tailors had taken him a good couple of hours he went in search of Jeannie, deciding that, despite it being her day off, the most likely place to find her would be the watch house, he made his way there.

Jeannie kept her face carefully blank when the assassin asked about Jake

"I don't know very much about him I'm 's only recently arrived in the city so you may be right."

which was technically an honest answer. They had only known each other for short time before he had left for Uberwald, she didn't know much more about him than his family origins and a few muddled details of his past. Besides, an assassin asking after one of her friends made her uncomfortable. She wasn't about to give him Jakes full name and address no matter how charming a smile was being flashed at her.

"I afraid I can't be much help with this matter sir. Now if you'll excuse me I need to escort this gentleman and his horse to his destination"

She gave the assassin a polite nod, and walked over to the wizard. "If you are ready sir, the watch house is this way"

Mina was bewildered: so many people at once! She looked round to answer the kind man in the cape who had appeared behind her, but he had already moved on to the group with the zombie-man in it.

Mina then turned to the scary dwarf with the big grin and an axe. Mina had grown up in Ankh-morpork so she already had the self-preservation to know that this could be a bad combination.  
'Kitty's gone away' she told the dwarf in a scared and a diminutive voice. She backed away from the dwarf and walked into the other man.

'You're a wizard! Can you do magic?' Mina thought a bit and said  
'I don't know, home's that way.' She pointed. 'I think.'  
Mina started to look worried as she watched the group of people move away.

Patrick looked down at the girl and smiled as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small flame which held in his hand.

"You mean magic like this?"

Again reaching into his coat pocket he fumbled about a bit as his hand came out with a miniature dragon.

"Or this?"

The dragon gave a puff of smoke from its snout and flapped its wings like a butterfly.

His horse stamped it front hooves at the sight of the small beastie but soon relaxed.

"Your house is that way..you think? Are you lost?"

_One good deed for the day, coming up!_

Patrick was a big believer in good deeds. Maybe that's why he'd been pummeled on a regular basis as a child by his brothers.

Jeannie hadn't heard the little girl at first, but after hearing what the wizard said to her Jeannie assumed that she was lost.

The wizard, to his credit, seemed eager to help but if the guy didn't even know how to get to one of the most well known buildings in the city how much help could he realistically be?

Jeannie walked over to the little girl and cruched down so she was at eye level. This made a grown-up seem much less intimidating than if they were towering above the child.

"Hi, my name's Jeannie and I'm a watchman, do you need some help to get home?"

_She knows a little more than she's letting on_ thought Mark as she attempted to escort the horse and his faithful wizard towards the Watchhouse. The zombie tried to lurch after them, which is a sight to behold when you only have one leg attached properly.  
He sighed. He wished his memory was a little better, but ever since that contract in...where was it? He knew it wasn't in Ankh-Morpork so that only left...the rest of the Disc  
_I really need to get some sleep but first, another visit is in order_ and with a sweep of his cloak, he headed towards Filigree Street and onto the only place that had as many answers as it did questions. Although they seldom matched up.

Suddendly the tomcats head popped out of the wizard's pack. It held some half-torn pieces of paper in its mouth.  
Vanishing and appearing mysteriously, as you probably know, is standard cat-like behaviour. Preferably followed by the destruction of various important objects / rooms / houses / small countries. (delete whichever is innapropriate)  
It dived back into the scraps of paper, it was indeed a comfy backpack.

Mina squealed with delight and giggled as the magic tricks were performed.

'Charlie knows the way home' she explained to the nice wizard, 'but I can't see him anymore.' She looked uncertain and nervous suddenly.  
'He was silly and stole an arm.' She added more brightly.

'Nice horsey!' Mina walked up to pat the horse and squealed as it neighed at her.  
'Are you strange too?' she asked the wizard.

Mina turned round as someone else started talking to her, she was feeling confused and shy around all these new people. Usually people just ignored her or called her a nuisance. She got onto her tiptoes and whispered  
'yes' in response to the lady's question.

'Kitty!' Mina suddenly exclaimed as she noticed the cat's head pop out of the back-pack briefly. The grown-ups looked confused.

Jeannie looked around, she couldn't see a cat but she could smell one and the wizards pack seemed to be moving. Smiling she said nothing and spoke again to the little girl

"Do you know which street you live in? I'll help you get there." Jeannie thought for a second and added "Then maybe your friend Charlie can give my friend his arm back too? He looks very silly with just one arm dosn't he?" she said grinning at the face Broc pulled at her

Twilight felt very crowded. All these people coming and going so fast, the little girl giggling at the wizard, the assasin, the dwarf, the...other people. And that wretched cat was hiding in that wizard's backpack!

Nonetheless, she was feeling very uncomfortable and very crowded, trying to control the urge to transform and bound away. Her hair was still wet with gutter water, and she was twitching uncomfortably shuffling her feet, and tried to pull herself together

Patrick was glad for the arrival of the officer, she could point him in the direction of the Watch House and she seemed to do well with the little one.

"Yes, I suppose so," he answered when asked if he was strange. "At least that's what people always tell me."

He couldn't figure out what the "kitty!' had been all about, but figured the girl was playing some kind of game.

Looking at the other one, still dripping wet, he asked, "Need a towel? Or is this your look for the day?"

Deciding he would at least try to help, he reached for his pack...

The tomcat decided, after a short, but intellectually intense moment, when the backpack started to move, to tuck itself firmly into it's bottom. It shifted so that it's belly was turned upwards and covered as much area as possible, so that any possible curious 5-fingered hands would first touch the soft, warm, furry belly. Because the sensation of touching a cats belly is very pleasant, the intruder will, even if surprised, not retract the fingers fast enough to avoid the incoming flurry of claws.

Twilight had the urge to shake herself dry, but she restrained herself. As the wizard reached into his pack she could almost feel the cat shifting into position.

"Act'ally," she said. "E'm looking fur the blk tomcat thet was heer erlier. Purrhaps you cud help mee find him?"

One word was racing through her mind at the thought of the tomcat: _Revenge!_ and some maniacal laughter, but of course it was all in her head.

The dwarf saw that Mina was frightened and backed away in the same time the little girl did...And told the little girl:

_I'm so sorry...didn't mean ta frighten yeah...mistake...I don't wan ta hurt anybody,I just wanted to know where the tomcat is...Thankz anyway.._

Orcakeline heard Minas exclamation ..the ''kitty!'' one...She decided to try and protect the tomcat,guessing what Twilight had in mind actually,knowing the two cats were in the middle of a fight...So Orcakeline backed away and almost tripped over Jeannies foot,but fortunately she turned her head just in time to stop...So she waited for the fight to begin...hoping she would get the glory in the end by saving the tomcat,forgetting that cats liked not to be disturbed in their fights and that Mina was frightened ,Orcakeline made a biiiig wide smile appear on her face and waited...again...

Mark the Fiendish Assassin walked through the gates of the Guild. They had a menacing quality but also an openness about them (being gates that were always open, this was a very good description for them). The four corners of the quad were occupied by students trying to blend in with the shadows. Mark stepped to the side and promptly  
disappeared.

"I do hope you are not going to play a jape on my students my good Sir" came a voice from behind him.  
"Me? No! I wouldn't do a thing like that" replied Mark and without turning around he said "How are you this fine day Dr Thrib?"  
"I am well, although my students could possibly do with a crash course in camouflage"  
Mark turned to greet his old teacher, they shook hands and exchanged more pleasantries.

Mina whispered 'Dunno' and after some thought, she added 'It's grey and tall' to the lady. Then seeing the dwarf grin a huge and manic grin, she ran behind the wizard to hide from it. She felt his ruck-sack move just above her head. She was frightened and confused and started to cry.

Jeannie felt sorry for the little girl, she was obviously frightened. Unfortunately the description of the girls home could apply to most of the buildings in the city and the only person who knew where she lived had done a runner after stealing Brocs arm.

Jeannie stayed crouched down as she thought about what to do, there was no way she was going to leave a frightend child on her own in the city.

If she changed into the wolf she could easily pick up the girls scent and find where she had come from but she had seen the little girls extremely enthusiastic approach to animals and decided that probably wouldn't be the best of ideas right now. Best to get the little girl somewhere safe then Jeannie could trace where she lived.

Inwardly Jeanie sighed and made a note to find out how much leave she was owed. A holiday was the only way she was going to get any proper time off, she didn't mind her job but after the recent double shifts she had been doing she could really use a break. It was looking less and less likely that was going to happen today though. Ah well,she reminded herself, it was still only morning. Once Jeannie had got the little group to the watch house maybe she could get them all sorted and still have the rest of the day off. It was worth a try

"Whats your name?" Jeannie asked the girl who told her

"OK Mina, I can help you get home but first we need to go the the watch house alright? There are people there who can help us find out where you live"

"Cud Aye bee uv eny help to getting her home?" suggested Twilight "Et's the leest Aye cud do after my cat bit her" Well, it wasn't exactly a lie

The dwarf was disappointed that she couldn't be of any help for the little girl..  
Orcakeline wanted to show Mina that she actually wanted to comfort her with that smile,but alas,it didn't work...so the dwarf gave Jeannie a little nudge and told her:

_Please give this to Mina from me and tell her I'm sorta sorry far whatever I did to her that frightened her...Please,but not now...Thanks.._ and with these words she gave Jeannie a biiiig lollipop with cherry and apple flavor. _Pleaaaase!.._ repeated Orcakeline...

Slightly taken aback Jeannie took the lollipop from the dwarf but couldn't resist giving Mina a brief yet friendly lecture on not taking sweets from strangers.

Jeannie looked at the cat/girl who had offered her assistance in helping Mina.

"Any help would be appreciated, what exactly did you have in mind?"

The dwarf still wanted to make Mina feel better,even thou she didn't know how,being already a little bit sorry that she kinda tacked Jeannie aback to..so she just backed away and followed everybody to the Watch in the most silent and invisible way possible (trying to turn invisible like Susan... even if she knew(the dwarf) that she couldn't... )  
Orcakeline still wanted to make sure Mina got home in the safest way possible ,but still wanted the tomcat to...  
But the dwarf thought a little bit and understood she couldn't stop the fight between the to cats that probably followed...So she just said that she will try to give the tomcat a good cozy home and much much food..These were Orcakelines private matter...

Mina nodded tearfully in response to what the lady said. Mummy said that watch-people were nice. She smiled a bit through her tears when she heard the other girl offer to help as well, and let herself be led by the group to the watch-house.

Twilight shrugged, a bit shyly. "Aye've been in dis city all my lyfe. Aye cud pract'clly walk et backwards. E'm sure Aye cud figyure out where et is if she described et to mee" She smiled inwardly, talking seemed to be getting a bit easier for her

"Thankyou. That will be a huge help"

When the group arrived at the watch house Jeannie orderd Broc upstairs to speak to Vimes, showed the wizard to the front desk and grabbed herself a nice strong cup of tea before asking the two girls to join her out on the front steps so they could get to the bottom of where Mina lived.

She let Twilight lead the questions as Jeannie sat back in the mid-morning light and sipped her drink.

In the mean time ,Orcakeline waited outside,hoping to see Twilight come out of the watch house with the thou she knew a little not very important person from the watch,she didn't try to get in the building,knowing it's safer to wait and take Twilight an interview (yeah right ...ask Twilight some questions,that's all)and try to do a good deed to the tomcat.

Patrick was in tears. He was sure he'd bit his tongue.

As he had reached into his bag to get a towel for the dripping wet girl, his hand had briefly touched something furry before teeth and fangs dug into his flesh!

His natural reaction after several million years of evolution would have been to scream, rip his hand away and jump around in a general state of alarm.

Mina had changed that. He'd seen that the girl was afraid and heard her start to cry and tried his best to contain the pain and urge to react as best as he could.

He walked with the group because through the flashes of light in his head and the sound of his own grinding teeth, he had heard someone say 'Watch House'.

With one hand on the reins and the other stuck inside the bag attached to gods only knew what, he'd walked almost sideways the entire way whimpering to himself, daring not to move his hand.

As the others walked into the Watch House and the little girl disappeared, Patrick decided it was now or never! Ripping his hand out of the bag he found a ball of fur, eyes and teeth attached quite firmly to his fingers. The pain was horrible!

Jumping from foot to foot and swinging his arm around in an effort to dislodge the beast, his other hand flailed about with a mind of it's own; octarine sparks flew from his fingertips as unchecked magic spilled out with the pain.

A nearby flower pot turned into a slightly surprised looking fish, somewhere inside the Watch House a pencil sprouted wings and flew out the window. An old monk walking by on the street ran for cover as his ceremonial robe turned into a very pretty but somewhat small dress.

"Heeeeelp! Getitoffgetitoffgetitoff! HeeEEeeEEelp!"

Twilight looked around to see if that tomcat was near, but she couldn't see him, so she followed Jeannie and Mina out to the front steps of the Watch House.

_He's probaly still in that wizard's pack_

Stepping out she sat down oon the steps and turned to Mina.

"Mina, can you describe yer house to mee? If Aye know whut et looks lyke Aye myght bee able to figure out whear et is"

While Orcakeline was waiting at the entrance of the watch house,she saw Mina,Jeannie and Twilight on the front prepared (in her mind) to listen to the conversation between the three girls and see if Mina got home safe.

Mina still looked upset and bewildered, but that wasn't surprising really. Jeannie remembered something she had seen in the canteen when she was getting her tea, she stood up and disappeared inside the building for a couple of moments.

When Jeannie came back out she had a small plate with a couple of sugar covered jam filled doughnuts on it. Not knowing whether Twilight ate this sort of sweet food, given her natural morphic state, Jeannie simply placed the plate between the girls and smiled gently at the little tear stained face that looked up at her

"Here you go Mina, and there's one for your friend if she wants it. If not, you can take it home for Charlie"

Jeannie sat back down on the steps wrapping her hands around her cup, and simply listened and waited

Mark left Lord Downey's office with more questions than answers. The face he had seen in the street was connected to a contract from many years ago but that was all he knew. Lord Downey had been very cryptic and it seemed to Mark that there was unfinished business in Uberwald.

Mark the Fiendish Assassin made up his mind there and then to find out as much as he could. If it involved a trip to Uberwald, then so be it. He decided to head home to gather some things he may need for the journey, but first, a quick stop on the way.

Any watcher might have seen the following scene in slowmotion, probably because of all the magic:  
The tomcat flew off from the wizards hand, keeping the claws as buried in the flesh as possible, because cats are evil, and flew over his shocked face right through the octarine flames onto the magicked flowerpot.  
Nothing had happened, except for the slowmotion stopping and the cats fur standing out in all directions.  
The tomcat stood still, a bit dazzled.

Broc sat next to Jeannie. and contemplated. With slow movments he removed his badge and set it next to Jeannie.

"Im sorry sergent, but i have to leave now. I...I just need to do some investigation of my own. I need to find out who killed me. and why. and to tell you the truth i would love your help...please"

Broc breathed. and he breathed again. and there was this annoying thumping noise coming...from...his... _chest_ .

"OH MY GOD IM ALIVE AGAIN!"

Jeannie looked at the badge that Broc had placed on the step, picking it up she turned it over and over in her hands. When she did speak she had a farway look in her eyes

"I understand why you need to follow this was something that happend in my past that will be resolved. One day. I know it's still there but I've learnt to put it away in my mind...for now. If this is what you need to do then you have my support..."

Jeanie sighed and put the badge back down, she was about to tell Broc she would help if she could when he shouted "OH MY GOD IM ALIVE AGAIN!"

All Jeannie could say in reply was

"Huh!"

So that was it, he had just been handed the metaphorical keys to his dad's estate. It was great to feel acceptance but he couldn't shake a feeling of unease, it seemed to have happened so quickly. When he was Jake the mongrel that everyone could kick he had nothing to lose and now? Now he was a Beta and he was a wolf not to be messed with. It was during these reveries that a Monk wearing a dress revealing rather too much hair and cleavage than was proper for a monk, bounced into him and carried on running. Jake turned to stare in the direction of the monk and couldn't help thinking that Ankh-Morpork had some very strange religions kicking about.

It took a while but after recovering a bit form the sight of the monk his thoughts turned to the Assassin he had seen. He doubted if it was the same one he had boxed and returned to sender but he remembered the letter his father had sent. Something flowery and polite no doubt with the distinct impression that the bill for the contract had been paid and that further attempts to terminate a member of the Von Uberwald family would be frowned upon.

It was then Jake came into view of the four sitting on the steps of the watch house. A small girl, a much less pale Broc, Jeannie and, his hackles rising, the cat girl. It wasn't that Jake had anything had against cats, it was just something in the primordial genes wanted to chase her, preferably for a long distance and then up a tree, old habits died hard. Restraining the urge he moved forwards.

"So off duty means, sitting outside of the watch house instead of being inside? Wow, you watchman just know how to have all the fun."

He looked at the little girl and the woman he had seen going into the alley as a cat. He pursed his lips for a moment before smiling.

"Is everything okay? Broc you are looking…healthy today."

Just after Brocs revelation Jeannie could have sworn she saw a pencil flutter past her. When Jake appeared, Jeannie smiled back ignoring his little jibe about watchmen. She was actually trying to have a day away from the yard but Fate seemed to have a different plan

"No, This poor little girl is lost and I'm having a very strange day. Can a zombie just become alive again? Well, Broc has. Can a pencil fly? Well, that one can. Look it's chasing a pigeon..." Jeannie watched the liberated pencil as it dissapeared from view

Shaking her head, Jeannie stood up and walked closer to Jake so she could speak to him without too many people overhearing.

"I don't know if this is of any importance to you or not Jake, but I'll feel better for mentioning it. You saw that assassin earlier right? Well, once you'd gone he was asking me about you. Obviously I didn't tell him anything, but I thought you should know"

Jeannie couldn't ignore the noises from inside the watch house any longer

"What _is_ going on in there?"

Twilight watched as the man approached. She was getting a weird vibe from him, pretty much the same vibe she was getting from this watchwoman, but she couldn't exactly put her finger on what it was. There was _something_ about them that had something clawing and hissing at her mind.

Twilight looked down at her feet, the vibe she was getting from the man made her want to avoid his gaze, as well as the woman's. She did this until she heard the woman's question,

"What _is_ going on in there?"

It was background noise to her at first, but after a moment Twilight could hear hissing and frantic yelling coming from inside the Watch house. She sighed and relaxed little. To an alleycat, the sound of fights felt like home.

Jake took in Jeenie's information and tried not to let his curiosity show. He was saved having to answer her question by the her turning around to look inside.

"Well, unless I am mistaken, it sounds like someone is strangling a cat. Either that or you've started employing some really strange watchman."

He jumped to one side as a helmet came skittering around the corner and vanished down the street.

"Well, it would appear that you DO employ some very strange watchman. Was there a really small person under that helmet or did it just have its own legs?"

Mark headed for the Watch house. He had to find that sergeant and get more answers although he had a sneaky feeling that he would end up with more questions.

Uberwald.  
It had been many years since he had been there. It had all gone wrong of course. Downey had told him that the contract required three people and he had been the only survivor because he was just an observer. His tutor had been posted back to The Guild and the other assassin had never been seen again.

He carried on walking with these thoughts in mind, oblivious to a monk in a dress running by and a pencil chasing a pigeon. Ok, first, he would talk to the Sergeant, then, he would have to find that face from the past and then, when it was all over, he would accept Lord Downey's offer to teach concealment at The Guild. A quite life would be nice, he had completed, if some what erratically, over fifteen contracts and it was time to hand up his sword.  
And crossbow.  
And blowpipe.  
And daggers.  
And poisons.

Patrick let out a screech as the cat detached from his hand, taking some flesh with it as it went.

He grabbed the bloodied hand with his other and doubled over, ignoring the havoc created from the release of so much magic in such a short time.

"Oh for crying out loud! Why do the gods create such things!"

_It's their idea of a sick joke! Must be..._

As the blood slowed and feeling returned, Patrick looked around for the demon thing that had done this. Seeing the cat on top of the newly arrived flower pot he raised his good hand and pointed a finger.

"I'm gonna turn you into a...a...well...something small and toothless!"

Broc stared at his, well non gray skin. He tugged at his arm. It didnt come off.

"YEEEEESSSS!"

Broc got up and began to do his happy dance, which he couldnt do before, because it involved flailing your limbs everywhere. ya you just cant do that as a zombie. Then something else dawned on him. he turned to Jake with a huge grin on his face.

"HIT ME!"

Mina was cheered up immediatly by the appearance of the jam buns. She turned to the older girl and said 'It's big and grey and dirty. Mummy tells me not to play in the puddles in the road, but sometimes we play boats and then we have to.' She thought a bit more and said, 'There's a dead dog in it and mummy says it's dirty too. I called it Scruffs'

Mina finished her bun and went to invatigate what the strange noise she could hear in the watch house was. She giggled. The wizard-man was swinging his arm with the black kitty hanging off his arm. As she watched, the pussycat let go and went whizzing through the air!  
'Wheeeee!' cried Mina.

She looked round and worriedly noticed that the wizard's hand was bleeding. She walked up to him and extracted a dirty scrunched up hanky to offer him. Mina then ran over to the cat which was trying to escape, grabbed hold of his tail once more and held him under the fore-arms facing away from her. She took no notice as the cat struggled and she told it off in an authoritative voice.  
'Bad, silly, naughty kitty! Look what you did!' She brought the cat over to the wizard and told it 'now say sorry!'

The cat meowed as it struggled to get out of her grip.

'He says sorry.' Mina told the wizard.

Twilight peered through the now open door of the Watch house, and saw the cat struggling in Mina's arms. She laughed a bit to herself, but somehow amusement turned into pity for the tomcat. Twilight really was good at heart, and little girls could be a cat's worst nightmare. To her surprise, she felt that she wanted to help him.

Sighing, and knowing she was going to regret this, she stood up.

"Excuse mee," she said to the group, and with that, she turned and dashed into the nearest alley, and changed into her natural cat form.

Something about being in her cat form made her feel even more vulnerable to the two people for some reason, but she'd worry about that later. Walking inside the watch house, Twilight rubbed up against Mina's legs and gave a sweet little _Mew_

The tomcat was still shocked after the magical accident, and if that wasn't enough, that... bi-ped had grabbed him and had flung him at the wizard. Who was _realllllyyyyy angry_ . The tomcat just thought of mewing helplessly, when he saw the other cat appear.  
For the first time, he suppressed his instincts and kept quiet. He couldn't wait to see that bloody aggressive cat in the hands of the kid.  
Mind you, he was bloody aggressive too, but that was beside the point.

Jeannie was watching the walking helmet and was about to say something to Jake when Broc began to shout and dance. His skin did look alot pinker and his scent was becoming more alive. When Broc asked Jake to hit him Jeannie shook her head in disbelief

"Just what the bloody hell is going on today! Did I actually wake up this morning or am I just in the middle of a very weird dream...and no-one even think of pinching me to find out!"

She looked at the grinning Broc, who was still inviting Jake to hit him and waving his arms around just slightly more than was necessary, probably because he couldn't believe that they weren't falling off yet

"Jake, just hit the man if it makes him happy."

Jeannie said it without really thinking, she was watching Twilight. The girl excused herself then returned as the small calico cat that had disturbed her breakfast this morning. Jeannie watched as Twilight entered the chaotic watch house and approached Mina

_Good gods, she's mad! _  
Mina was a very sweet girl but her approach to animals was anything but. Jeannie watched in macabre fascination to see what the cat would be forced to drink/eat/wear or possibly all three

Jake shook his head.

"I'm not going to-"

And then Jeannie told him to hit Broc, this really was a strange day.

"I suppose it must be something to do with the wizard in there and leaking magic."

He pinched Jeannie on the neck.

"Nope, you're not sleeping."

Then he looked at Broc who was still dancing around, wondering if he could really modulate his strength he tried to give Broc a gentle tap. He had to admit, the ex-Zombie did look surprised, right before his feet left the ground and he landed on his butt on the top stair looking dazedly, but quietly up at the two of them.

"Uhh…sorry, I was going for a gentle prod."

Patrick stopped just short of doing something nasty to the cat just as Mina approached. He accepted the hanky from her with as much of a smile as he could manage at this point.

He winced as she grabbed the creature and took a small step back as she offered the apology from the 'kitty'.

"'s alright."

How could growl at a little girl?

Seeing the other cat appear made him nervous so he busied himself with something to occupy his mind. Reaching into his bag he felt...scraps.

"Oh! That...that...

_Mind your manners in front of the girl!_

"...kitty - tore up all my money! I thought paper was a daft thing to use for currency and that cat proved it! What am I gonna do now? Oh hell...

As he sifted through the remains of what was to be his means of support on his travels, he remembered the envelope that Ponder Stibbons had given him.

"Maybe I can get at least one thing done today? I'm supposed to give this letter to a Sam Vimes...is he here?"

_Get this done and make a run for it before anything else happens today._

Twilight wasn't exactly sure why she wanted to help the tomcat out. It certainly wasn't his personality. It was pretty much because he was a cat and Twilight was big on the whole 'lend a helping paw to those in need' thing. Whatever the reason, she thought, that cat had better be grateful for this

Mark could see the Watch house up ahead.  
_This is going to be interesting_ he thought. He spotted the man from earlier punch a Watch officer while that sergeant stood still.

The Assassin decided to blend in with the street around him to give him a better chance of getting to talk to the man. Maybe he could save himself a trip to Genua...or was it Klatch? Nevermind, he'd remember later.

Mina looked down as she heard the "mew"-sound and promptly dropped the cat she was holding in surprise: it was that bad cat that had bitten her again! She clamped her hand on the bad puss's back and told it  
'Shan't stroke you till you've said sorry too.'

She kept hold of the cat until she heard it emit a subdued 'meow' and then let it go to stroke it clumsily, though a little bit more nervously than before, on the head.  
'there see? goog cat'

As the wizard seemed to be busy, Mina left the cat, and wandered back outside to see what the lady who said she could find the way home was doing.

Broc jumped up and yelled and screamed.

"I FEEL PAIN!"

Then Broc realized he was bleeding.

"YAY! IM BLEEDING!"

Broc continued his happy dance. But now with more enthusiasim. oh and now there was blood spraying everywhere.

Turning to the tomcat, Twilight shot him a You-Better-Thank-Me-For-That look, and changed back into a human right there in front of him. Dusting off her dress, she stood up, and went back outside to meet up with the girl

Jake didn't notice the Assassin, the street was too confused with scents and the tang of blood exploded into his head like fireworks. The combined scent of Broc's blood and the wizard's blood from inside had made the wolf leap to attention and for a moment Jake had to make sure he was still human. Obviously Uberwald had really brought out the wolf in him. How had Broc managed to start bleeding from a punch?

"BROC!"

Jake said, more firmly and much louder than he had intended. Ripping off a strip of this ruined trousers which he still had with him, he handed it to Broc and in a quieter voice and hopefully more friendly.

"Would you please wrap it up."

Jeannie watched the various events takjing place inside and out of the watch house. Rubbing her neck where Jake had pinched it she glared at him

"I could have sworn I said _not_ to pinch me!"

The blood scent from Broc confirmed that yes he was completley alive again, and also that yes the wolf wanted to come out and play. Jeannie took a few discreet steps away from the dancing bleeding watchman and aproached Twilight and Mina now they were both back outside.

"Ok, lets just get to the bottom of this before anything else happens ok? Mina, are there any shops or anything on your street? Any statues, factories, pubs or anything like that near where you live?"

There had to be something that would solve the mystery of where the little girl lived.

The image of a steak, raw and bleeding floated into his mind and didn't make it any easier to concentrate. He did his best though and listened as Jeannie spoke and even tried to make a joke, anything to take his mind off the smell.

"Good grief, the little girl is lost and your worried about getting a drink? You should be asking her important things like…"

He stopped because _anywhere to get a good shank of meat_ would probably not be met with amusement.

"Never mind, you know I think I'm going to stand over here."

He increased the distance between Broc and himself and more importantly, the wind direction.

Patrick had been directed up the stairs to the office where Commander Vimes currently sat reading various reports.

Knocking on the door he was met with a brief grunt and slowly opened it further to walk in.

"Commander Vimes? I have a letter from Stibbons at the University, he asked me to deliver it to you personally."

Vimes hadn't looked up from the pile of papers in front of him, but extended a hand and took the letter. "Don't leave yet."

Patrick stood in front of the desk and tried to respond after a few seconds, "Oh, I'm not returning to the University Commander. I'm going ona trip and...

The last bit was drowned out by the sudden sputtering and animation coming from the man sitting in front of him.

"WHAT? They want me to do WHAT?" Standing up from his chair the Commander rounded on Patrick and stood almost nose to nose with him.

"You think I've got nothing better to do? Think the Watch is here to do the bidding of a bunch of..."Undetermined amount of time', 'A few of your best', 'A matter of utmost urgency!'. Don't you people have...people to handle this kind of thing yourselves?"

Patrick was completely unprepared. He hadn't known what the letter would say and had no idea it would have anything to do with him.

"I, uh, I don't know what, um. Excuse me sir. Do you mind if I read the letter?"

Vimes thrust the paper into his face with as much aggressiveness that a piece of paper could be thrust.

Patrick took the letter and began reading.

_Oh great! They got the Watch involved! Why didn't someone tell me?_

Outside the watch house Jeannie waited for any forthcoming details about Minas home. Her ears picked up a very familiar bellow coming from the building

"Sounds like somone has annoyed the Commander, I'm glad it's nothing to do with me"

The blood scent was making her tetchy, Jeannie turned to Broc in exasperation

"Please, go and wash off the blood. You know what it does to..." seeing Mina looking at her in confusion Jeannie decided that sentence was probably best left unfinished

"...um, just clean up ok? Thanks"

Jeannie reflected that as days off went, this one was certainly high on entertainment if some what low on actually getting anything done

Jake felt tension ease from him when Broc left to get cleaned up. The scent of blood still hung in the air, but with the source removed it had begun to dissipate.

"Well, I've often found that if a high ranking member of any organisation gets angry, no matter who it's with, then usually everyone ends up suffering. Perhaps you should go and find out why he's so upset? I would of course, but, a) I'm not a watchman and b) well really a re-iteration of A."

Jeannie crossed her arms, and shook her head.

"No, it's my day off! I shouldn't even be here. I am not getting dragged into whatever has upset Vimes. I have plans for..."

She stopped in mid sentence when a young nervous constable approached her

"um, Sarge? Commander Vimes wants to see you straight away"

Jeannie rolled her eyes and unfolded her arms. When she spoke the nervous young officer visibly flinched, news of officers like Jeannie and Angua traveled around the rookies pretty quickly

"Oh great! What could I possibly have done? I haven't even been here!"

Jeannie looked at the others, "Jake, please will you wait here with Mina until I get back? Hopefully this won't take long then I can get her home"

Jeannie headed straight up to Vimes office, she knocked and entered.

Noticing the wizard stood there, she gave him a polite nod in greeting then stood and waited for Vimes to tell her what this was all about

Mark heard the rumble of thunder. It was a little odd seeing as there were no clouds in the sky. The thunder also sounded a little like Commander Vimes shouting. He saw the sergeant disappear into the building and carried on walking towards the man and the little girl.

_How should I approach this?_ he thought, _Maybe I should just come out and ask him, just hope he doesn't disappear again_

Mark stepped up behind the man and tapped him on the shoulder.  
"Er, excuse me sir, this may sound a little odd, but um..do you recognise me at all?" asked Mark, "It's just that you seem very familiar and I thnk I've only been to Uberwald once"

He looked at the little girl and took off his hat and bowed and greeted her, "Miss"

Patrick had read letter and felt his control over whatever was about to happen simply melt away.

Ridcully had written to the Commander explaining that the box given to hium by Rincewind was an 'extremely dangerous artifact that requires immediate attention'. He went on to say that it was now a matter for the City Watch to provide an escort of several of the best officers to make sure that it - the box - was disposed of properly.

"I swear Commander, I had no idea what the letter was about. If I'd known what they wanted I would have just kept going this morning and never delivered it. I promise."

Patrick stood there as the officer entered the room and they exchanged nods. He had a feeling she would be given this assignment by the Commander and immediately felt a bit sorry for her.

He had no idea what the box was about; had no clue as to who made it; had nothing to tell him how to 'properly dispose' of it..nothing. He didn't like the thought of getting anyone else involved in this...mess.

"I'm sure Commander that I can handle this...I don't want to impose."

_Yeah right, and as soon as the University finds out you tried to get around this your name will be on every bounty hunters desk by the end of the week._

When Twilight heard the thunder of the Commander's voice she had to fight the urge to run away on all fours. Usually, when she was unable to run away from somethign her fur would cringe. Apparently, humans couldn't do that either.

_So many rules about being human, how do they live with it all?_

When the assasin came up (even to a cat it was quite clear that he was an assasin) Twilight was standing next to Mina, and fiddling with the loose thread on her dress. She liked thread. It relaxed her inner cat

The tomcat was confused. Normally he would've ran away, but he felt a strong urge to rub against the other cat's feet thankfully. He shuddered.  
And then he realised that he'd never done that before.  
He shuddered again.

The scent of the assassin came to him from out of the confusion of smells a few moments before he was tapped on the shoulder. Jake turned slowly and trained eyes that were used to making prey nervous, but he reminded himself this was an assassin, Jake's gaze did not change.

"I was under the impression that if an assassin's face was familiar to anyone, the assassin would have done a very poor job. I cannot say I recognise you, although I have had dealings with some of your colleagues, he tried to kill me, something, I must admit, that I was not impressed about."

Jake drew on years of breeding and was suddenly a different person, very cold, very aloof and very aware of his status in life.

In the office Vimes was speaking to Jeannie

"The bottom line is you have more field experience outside of the city than any of the officers here. From the sound of this...thing and what needs to be done with it that could be invaluable. Whatever this thing is I want it out of my city"

Jeannie nodded, and re-read the letter that Vimes had handed her. She looked up at the wizard, he seemed very uncomfortable about the whole thing.

"And they did this to you without even telling you? You must have done something bad to Ridcully to draw such a short straw" She put the letter back on Vimes desk

"OK Commander, how long do I have to prepare?"

Vimes shrugged "A couple of days should be plenty of time. We can get a team assembled to go with you, transport and everything else you might need can be arranged. I suggest you talk to our magical friend here and work out a destination...preferably as far away from here as possible. If even those damn wizards are afraid of this box then I really don't want to know what it can do!"

Jeannie stood up "Yes sir. If I may be excused?"

With a nod from Vimes Jeannie left the office, but not before instructing the wizard to meet her outside when he was ready. Ok, first things first, get the little girl safely home then embark on extremely dangerous mission involving unknown magical powers...she certainly couldn't complain that her job was mundane

The tomcat was irritated. It felt like the whole world was getting smaller. Snuffles retreated under a chair.  
_Snuffles?_  
Even that damn dwarf had given him a better name!  
Why the bleedin' hell did he call himself Snuffles?  
Why the bleedin' hell was he swearin'?  
Why the bleedin' hell was he replacing 'g' with and ''', whatever that was?  
Why the bleedin' hell was he thinking in written language?  
Why the bleedin' hell did he know what language was?  
His head bumped against the chair.  
Weird if you consider that he hadn't raised it since he started following this trail of thought.

Mina was confused by all the comings and goings. 'hello' she said to the man who greeted her. She sat down on the step in front of the watch house and watched the things that were going on around her with interest.  
She looked up to see the bigger girl again, and said 'where did you go? the bad cat came back, but it was sorry and didn't bite.'

Broc stemmed the blood flow with the cloth. And he wouldnt stop grinning. Thats when he saw the assassin. Now anger contorted his face,in fact his whole being was radiating anger.

"YOU!"

and dived for Marks throat.

Twilight sat down next to the girl.

"That was my cat," she said. She figured the truth would be too much for the girl right now. "I'm very sorry that I- she bit you. I'm sure she's very sorry, as well."

Just as she finished the sentence, Twilight heard the former zombie shout and dive at the assasin. Twilight rolled her eyes.

_This is certainly going to be a_ fun _day_

Mark would have stepped out of the way of Broc's lunge but he was an assassin so he merely waltzed around him, and grabbed his collar. A dagger appeared against Broc's neck.  
"Now my dear chap, that's no way to greet someone is it?" whispered Mark into Broc's ear and noticing the two girls and the cat, released him. He turned back to Jake.  
"Well, I cannot speak for my colleagues, but seeing as you are still very much alive and they are not, the contract is complete"  
"Now, you seem familiar and because Uberwald seems to come to mind and you did not deny it, I would very much like you to join me on a journey to help me remember. You will of course be paid for your time," said Mark the Fiendish Assassin, "This is very important to me and I will guarantee your safety from any other contracts that may have arisen"

Jake's entire body tensed as he watched the Assassin grab Broc, however he eased slightly when the ex-zombie was released. Was it even possible to be an ex-zombie?

"I'm no assassin but I am aware that one should not kill unless of course they are being paid, since I assume you are not, then that was merely an empty and rather showy gesture. Of course if you had killed him , in front of the watch house, you'd have to deal with the law or failing that, I would have killed you."

He was very aware he was dealing with an Assassin, but hunting was born into his genes.

"Now as for me, I did not deny it nor did I acknowledge the fact. However, I am from Uberwald, though I only generally put on my accident for tourists. Why do you want t ogo to Uberwald? And more importantly what if I refuse your generous offer?"

"Then I will find someone else that knows the area" replied Mark, "Someone with, shall we say, certain instincts"

Mark had, hopefully, got the message across that he knew Jake's secret. It wasn't that difficult really, seeing as people form Uberwald were either Igors, vampires or werewolves. Jake didn't have scars and wasn't wearing evening dress.

"Look, if you like, feel free to ask others to come along, I have no problem with that. I'm doing this for me, The Guild has nothing to do with it," stated Mark, "And I never inhume in front of children, payment isn't always necessary"

Broc stood up and pointed a trembeling finger at mark.

"You dont remember me do you? Five years ago, you had a contract out on my boss and i just got in the way. But I certinly surprised you when i got back up. and threw you through a wall."

Broc drew his sword.

"you've got sixty seconds to tell me who sent you before i go librarian on you"

When Broc drew his sword, Twilight immediately covered Mina's eyes.

"Broc! Dere's a child present!" sh shouted to the former zombie "Put yer sord away before you scare her!"

"I'm afraid I can not reveal who took out the contract on your boss. Even if I could remember" said Mark.

"Why don't you put the sword away, I have no intention of hurting you again, after all, next time, you may stay dead" Mark took a step back, he had one hand behind his back and another under his cloak.

"I'm sorry about this, would you believe it happens all the time" he said to Jake and the two girls

Suddendly, as if done on purpose, in the brief silence that followed, Snuffles walked out of the Watch House. He hardly would've been noticed, if he wouldn't have been walking on two legs and wouldn't be as tall as an average human (when standing, of course). A sensible person would've calmly perceived this as a mere change of proportions and would've treated the human-sized, black creature no more different than the normal stray cat.  
'Meeeeaaoooouurrrwww.' said Snuffles nonchalantly and looked at the group amiably, but confused.

When Twilight saw the creature that walked out of the Watch house, she froze. Well, that was reasin enough to set her off the edge.

Not really caring who was around to see it, Twilight changed back into her cat form and, twitching like mad, dove behind Mina. Little girls always made for good protection to cats

Jeannie heard the commotion outside as she approached the door.

Walking out she saw the scene, Broc with his sword raised at the assassin from earlier, Jake looked annoyed, Twighlight hiding behind Mina because of...what in hells names was that giant cat thing?

Assessing the situation quickly Jeannie decided the cat didn't look as though it posed an immediate threat so using the grace and stealth that being a werewolf gave her she silenty crept up behind Broc, took him down with a sweep kick to the legs and neatly grabbed his sword off him before he knew what was happening. She looked down and him

"Sorry about that Broc but there are children present and attacking people with a sword is technically against the law you know, and seeing as you have resigned I can throw your ass in the cells if you try that again."

She looked around at the others "Now I've just found out I'm really lucky, 'cos I've just bagged an all expenses trip complete with danger, unknown magic and gods knows what else. if I even come back alive I may not be the right shape so if any one else wants to pis..." Jeannie rememberd the little ears that were hearing this and corrected herself at the last second "...wind me up they had better be very bloody sure of themselves!"

Taking a deep breath Jeannie tried to calm down a bit, it wasn't their fault she had been handed what sounded suspiciously like a suicide mission.

"Knowing my luck it'll be bloody Uberwald or somwhere like it" She grumbled, before sighting the large cat creature again "And what is _that_?"

It was strange how when he was around certain people his life seemed to happen in bursts of excitement followed by a pause and then more excitement.

"Broc, calm down you-"

He was interrupted as a large bi-pedal cat appeared in the entrance of the watch house. Despite being a wolf some of the time and a human the rest, it was still a bit of a shock to see a creature that appeared to be two things at once as though it were stuck in the middle of a shift. Once he realised his eyes were not lying to him, and more importantly that his nose wasn't he shrugged.

"Yeah sure, why not, I mean how much stranger is this than anything else?"

He said to himself.

Realising that there was a great deal to concentrate on all at once, he turned back to the no downed Broc and the rather pissed Jeannie, who no doubt would have her hackles up if she were a wolf. She stood holding the sword a fact that Jake seemed to notice very quickly and be slightly annoyed by. Looking at Broc he knew it would take the ex-zombie some time to adjust, he was human, he no longer had the strength of a zombie or the invulnerability, true he no longer felt to pieces all he time either.

"Well it looks to me like an over-sized cat standing on two feet. However, I've got to admit, I'm not used to these things happening so I might be wrong."

Turning to the Assassin he lowered his voice, although he doubted if it would stop Jeannie from hearing, he could, he could stand closer to the assassin, but the idea made his skin crawl.

"What is there in Uberwald that interests you so much?"

Of course Jeannie couldn't help but hear Jakes question to the assassin. Helping Broc back up she handed him back his sword, she doubted he would be daft enough to try anything again right now.

The cat creature was un-nerving but didn't seem to be doing anything to cause concern...unless being vastly oversized and walking on two legs could count as concerning for a black cat.

Standing still Jeannie concentrated on calming her temper, she wasn't as quick to fly off the handle as she used to be but she still had a fairly short fuse and being sent on this mission because the damn wizards were too fat and cowardly to sort out their own mess had sparked her fuse alright.

Jeannie also listened carefully to the conversation between Jake and the Assassin. Jake must have been aware that Jeannie could hear every word.

"If you really want to know, then I'll tell you" Mark leaned closer to Jake and kept his voice low, glancing at Jeannie, "One of the assassins that didn't return on that fateful night is believed to have been a spy for the King of Hersheba. I have been asked to find out what he was looking for in Uberwald, I am led to believe that the King is still searching for...whatever he is searching for."  
Mark thought for a moment and then added "This is state business direct from Vetinari himself and there could be...bonuses if we are successful"

Mark looked at the cat thing. "It has a collar, why don't you se if it has a name-tag?"

Broc tried to controll his anger. but something wierd was happening.

"Are there supposed to be shooting pains going up my left arm, and chest pain, shortness of breath and- oh sh-"

And Broc dropped dead as a doughnut.

Broc opened his eyes and stared into some faces above him. Oh and he wasnt breathing.

"YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME!"

Mark looked at Broc on the floor.  
"You can't blame me for that one" quipped Mark and turned to the Sergeant, "I ..that is we," motioning to Jake, "Happen to be going to Uberwald, you are more than welcome to join us if that's where you are heading too"

After Jeannie left the room, Patrick could swear that the temperature dropped several degrees.

"Commander, I'm sorry to have gotten your people involved in this. I promise you I didn't know what that letter was about."

Vimes glared at him from over the top of the paper he was holding. "Just what does that box, thing, whatever do?"

"That's just the probelm sir. I have no idea really. I was given the box just lastnight and haven't had time to do any tests."

Vimes sat back and asked, "Where is it now?"

"It's right-"

Patrick bounded down the stairs four at a time landing in a heap at the bottom. Scrambling to his feet again he ran down the hall toward the front lobby of the Watch House. Seeing his bag still lying there on the floor he dove, grabbing the bag and clutching it to his chest.

" - here."

_That's it! If I live through this I'm going back home and find myself a nice little farm!_

Standing up, Patrick snatched up the bits of paper fluttering out of the opening. Looking out the door at the assembled goup he saw one lying on the ground, the others standing around him and a large...cat?

_I think I'd faint too..._

Jeannie simply shrugged in answer to the Assassin

"At the moment I have no idea where my destination is going to be, although...just hold that thought will you? I'll be right back"

She had seen the wizard leaving the building, Jeannie walked straight over to him and before the guy could even open his mouth she spoke first.

"Listen, we have to dispose of this box as far away as possible right? Well how about Uberwald? Normally I'd be the last person to suggest going there but there are enough desolate areas where this box-thing can get lost and also there just so happens to be a couple of very useful gentlemen heading that way."

Jeannie gestured over to Jake and the Assassin, who were standing a little way away

"I grew up in Uberwald and so did Jake, thats the one in the blue shirt by the way. So, between the four of us, with some local knowledge and our own individual skills we stand a better chance than if we just took a group of coppers off into the middle of nowhere."

She looked at the wizard, who still didn't look any happier than she was about this whole mission and decided to give the guy a bit of a break. This wasn't his fault, Ridcully was a hard man to refuse and the young wizard had probably been bullied into doing this. So Jeannie smiled and extended a hand

"I don't believe we've been properly introduced anyway. My name is Jeannie, and you are...?"

After a few moments, it appeared that the creature wasn't really posing as a threat to anyone. Cautiously, Twilight crawled out from behind Mina. Looking up at the six year old girl, Twilight gave her a nervous cat smile, as if to say I guess it's a little late to tell you what I am, now ain it?


	2. Chapter 2

Mina was a bit bewildered by what was happening, but as a typical Morpokian kid, she was sort of enjoying the action.  
Suddenly she saw a huge cat on two legs walk out of the watch-house. As the elder girl went to hide behing her, Mina stood there, not quite knowing whether to be excited or scared. She decided on a mixture of the two: Mina ran up to the cat, patted it on the arm, squealed as it moved and ran away to hide behind the other girl ...who wasn't there anymore. All Mina could see was the other cat looking at her in an apologetic sort of way.

Mina took fright and ran to hide behind the wizard and the watch-lady person, who were standing the closest to the door.

* * *

Twilight really felt sorry for scaring the girl. Laying down flat on the ground in a generally submissive way, she curled her tail around her. The whole thing gave the effect of a very sad multicolored ball of fur with aqua colored eyes.

She'd never wanted to be human. It was a curse, used only when she needed to. Truth be told, she wished she could return to the life of being nothing more than a cat. It got her a lot more friends, she'll assure you that. Twilight had grown up a housecat living the life of an alleycat. She was tough enough to survive on the streets, but gentle enough to act like a pet.

* * *

The cat had been watching the scene curiously and was now heading towards Jeannie with what could be just called an angry expression.  
He thrust a paw towards her indignantly, as if to say: 'So _I_ don't deserve to be greeted, eh?'

* * *

Jeannie noticed the frightend little Mina run and hide behind her and the Wizard. She was about to kneel down to try and comfort her when the black cat approached with it's paw extended. Some people might have found it slightly frightening but Jeannie had grown up in Uberwald, she was used to strange and unusual creatures, heck she _was_ a strange and unusual creature.

Jeannie looked into its indignant face

_It wants me to shake its paw? Well, why not. This is pretty tame on the strangeness by todays standards_

so she shrugged, and shook the cats paw. Feeling like a bit of a prat but also aware that it might help Mina see that there was nothing to be afraid of Jeannie introduced herself to the cat who was apparently called Snuffles. She nudged the Wizard "Your turn, go on, introduce yourself to the nice giant cat"

* * *

Jake watched as Jeannie shook hands with the giant cat creature. After the blood the wolf was very much awake and the sight of the cat so close was ringing all the right bells, somehow though he managed to restrain himself. Making his decision he was about to voice it to the Assassin when he felt the presence beside him. The man was tall and far more powerfully built than Jake. He managed to emit an air that if he really wanted to he could unscrew your head and pop it off like so many other people uncork wine, the only thing that restrained him from doing so was that he did not wish to, However there was always the thought that he might change his mind. The large male appeared to ignore the rest of the group, instead looking at Jake.

"My lord a message has just arrived by clax I believe it is urgent."

Jake took the proffered message and read silently. Once he'd finished he followed the message and assumed a thoughtful expression.

"Send a reply, let them know I will be there as soon as possible."

The man nodded, but it was clear that taking orders from Jake was something he was not pleased about. He took a step back and just before he went he looked into Jeannie's eyes, no one else, just hers and then left to do as Jake had said.

Turning to the Assassin Jake spoke again.

"I'll agree to help you then, although I certainly hope that you can manage to keep contracts from the guild here. I need to leave tonight, you can travel with me or I can meet you there, however my departure time is not negotiable. I will meet you outside of the Von Uberwald estate at seven this evening."

He turned to Jeannie

"I'm sorry we didn't get more time to catch up, I don't know when I will be back."

Without another word or waiting for anyone to say goodbye, he left at a run.

* * *

Mark acknowledged Jake with a nod "I'll be there" he said as Jake left.  
Turning to Jeannie, the wizard and....the cat thing, he spoke "If you can be ready by this evening, you are welcome to come along. There is transport to arrange so I must take my leave and prepare for the hourney ahead" And with a bow, Mark the Fiendish Assassin turned and left with a sweep of his cloak as only an assassin can.

* * *

After a while Mina poked her head out from behind the watch-lady and the wizard, the giant cat seemed to be acting like a person, so she decided that really it was a man in a cat suit. She went up to it and patted it on the back as far up as she could reach, to show it she wasn't scared anymore, and the went over to the other cat.

Mina was puzzled, 'Bad cat! What did you do with Twilight?' She put her hand on its back forcing it to lie on the ground, and looked around confused as if she thought that the other girl would appear out of thin air.

* * *

Broc stood up. Fate was being mean again. He scowled at the leaving assassin. He turned to Jeannie.

"Ill go with you. I want to keep an eye on that assassin bas-"

Broc realized that there was a child present.

"- ket boy."

Great now the kid thought he was retarted.

* * *

Jeannie was distracted from the goings on around her by the arrival of the large male. Without meaning to she tensed and watched intently as he addressed Jake and passed him a message

_he called him My lord?_

Try as she might she just couldn't think of Jake as a lord, most of the time she didn't even think about which family he was from. She liked Jake but she detested the Von Uberwalds.  
There were a few reasons behind this, but Jake knew of the most prominent one. Another reason that liking the Von Uberwalds was unlikely ever to happen was because Jeannies own family, the Von Adalwulfs, had been feuding with the Von Uberwalds for centuries.

The Von Adalwulfs were a powerful family, they owned a sizable amount of estate/territory in Uberwald. Unfortunatly the borders of their territory met with that of Jakes family, perhaps that was the cause of the age old feud. Who knew, anyway the cause was no longer important. It would take nothing short of a miracle for it to ever end.

Jeannie was snapped out of her train of thought when her eyes locked with those of the large male. What he was thinking was totally unreadable but she didn't like the way he was looking at her. Jeannie was aware of Mina still hiding behind her and fought the urge to growl. The poor child really didn't need anymore frights

Thankfully the male left, and Jeannie relaxed again. She was about to ask Jake who that was when he said his brief goodbye and left before she could reply. Watching him walk off she thought

_I'm sorry too_

Before the assassin left Jeannie nodded graciously and replied

"I thank you for you offer sir, but apart from the fact that I am not going to be wiliingly found anywhere near the Von Uberwald estate, myself and my companions have our own preparations to make. I wish you well on your errand"

With that she turned to speak to Broc

"If you want to join us Broc, I'd be glad of the extra help. But before we can begin to prepare, we need to get Mina home."

* * *

Before Patrick had an opportunity to properly introduce himself to Jeannie the entire group had come together and seemed to make a decision for him.

"Well, uh, my name is Patrick. At least the bit that most people can pronounce. I'm from Ecalpon."

He laid his bag down on the ground and fished through it to bring out all the scraps of money that the cat had shredded.

He balled it up in his hands, clasped them together and closed his eyes for a second. A bright flash of light escaped from between his fingers and, opening his hand, a small wad of money now appeared.

"I'm a bit of a wizard."

Looking at the assembled group he thought to himself that just an hour ago he figured on doing this alone. He hoped that nobody got hurt on this adventure; he wouldn't be able to forgive Ridcully for that.

"If we're going to do this maybe we should work out some logistics? I've got a horse but that's about it."

_Maybe you should wait before telling them you don't actually know how to ride it...._

Walking over to Mina he bent down to pet the cat she was holding on to.

"You're quite the animal tamer aren't you? I could have used someone like you on my first trip to this city. Ever hear of a snarg?"

* * *

Pleased that it was treated like everybody else, Snuffles had sat on the ground, radiating victoriusness. However, even the small girl stopped giving gim attention. He did what any proper and self-respecting cat does and decided to rub against someones legs. There was the girl, too small to be rubbed against whitout looking silly by such a large cat, there was Patrick, who had just repaired the money, which made officially a hostile creature and there was the other human, who was really a dog, who was really a human. Well, better than nothing, Snuffles thought, and did as decided, so that his tail would do as much bothersome action as it could in the facial region of the unlucky werewolf.  
Cats are like that, you know.

* * *

Jeannie was very tolerant for a werewolf but the cat had crossed the line!When the tail of the cat brushed her face Jeannie couldn't help but growl at it. Seeing it scurry away gave her a small feeling of victory and she smirked to herself

_Ha! Take that Snuffles!...oh man, did I just really think that? _

Looking up she spotted Captain Carrot who was walking towards the watch house.

Jeannie gave him a brief salute

"Sir, you're just the person who can help us!"

It was well known that Carrot knew practically everyone in the city. It was a good bet that he would recognise Mina. Jeannie explained to Carrot about the lost little girl and he walked over to the little group. Jeannie made a point of staying away from the cats as Carrot smiled at Mina.

"Good morning Miss Mina. Got a bit lost have you?" Carrot turned to Jeannie "Miss Mina lives on Shamlegger Street sergeant, I'm sure her mother would appreciate it if she was escorted back home"

Jeannie nodded gratefully "Thankyou sir, I'll get right on it"

* * *

Twilight felt closed in, but the wizard had petted her _properly_ so she guessed it was okay for now.

She was amazed that Mina couldn't tell that she _was_ Twilight. Usually, kids were the first to figure it out. It was always confusing. Well, her name tag wouldn't be of much help to hint the girl off. It was so old and beat up that it was now too illegible to read. Mainly from the scratches it suffered in various cat fights.

_Stupid curse. Hm, maybe this wizard can-Okay, this girls's hand is really hurting my back._

With little trouble, Twilight rolled over onto her back so as to put the girl's hand on her belly. Folding her paws, she tried to show that she wasn't about to scratch her, and purred sweetly at her.

* * *

Mark headed back to The Guild to arrange some transport. Lord Downey wouldn't be willing to lend him a coach easily, especially if he knew if it involved Vetinari. Mark knew there would be a price and it probably wouldn't involve money.

After waiting for nearly an hour, Mark was granted an audience for the second time that day.

"Ah, Mark, do take a seat. May I offer you a drink? Do feel free to have a humbug. Now, what brings you back here?"  
"Thank you M'Lord, but I must decline your generosity. Following our conversation earlier, I will be departing for Uberwald this evening. I have arranged a guide and it would seem that Commander Vimes will be sending a party as well in the next day or so," explained Mark, "Would it be possible to use one of The Guild coaches M'Lord?"  
"Ahh, an interesting question. One which poses the question; Why not ask our Patrician for one of his?"  
_I knew you were going to ask me that_ thought Mark "Well, The Guild markings on the coach carry an assurance that our esteemed Patrician can not give. A Guild coach has never been attacked by bandits Sir and I thought it prudent to pass this assurance onto my guide."  
"Very well, I will have a coach made ready for you but might I ask a favour of you?"  
_Here it comes_ "Of course my Lord"

Lord Downey explained the favour. Mark left in a sullen mood, contemplating what Downey had asked of him. He mulled it over on his way home.

And that was when he remembered.

He had left his keys behind again.

* * *

The day seemed to go past in a blur, the news in the note had been cryptic enough for anyone outside of the family not to understand it, but it was explicit enough for him. By six in the afternoon Jake was already pacing, he knew that travelling during the night was a often considered a bad move, but he was actually hoping that someone would try something on, he could really do with the release. In the corner of the room a large black wolf materialised and stood silently. It was not an intrusive wolf, after all it's main function was to protect and stay out of the way and these wolves were very good at their jobs.

When seven came it found Jake walking down towards one of the carriages. He hated the small spaces, but with the windows open it was slightly more bearable. The large wolf jumped into the carriage after Jake and it set off to the entrance of the state. He would give this assassin fifteen minutes and then he would have to catch up.

* * *

Mina smiled as she recognised captain Carrot and greeted him with a ''Lo mister Carrot!'  
Mina looked at the Wizard and smiled shyly as she shook her head, she had never heard of a snarg before.

She felt the cat move under her hand and looked at it. Seeing it so friendly, she decided that it probably hadn't eaten her friend. So she picked it up cautiously so its head was facing hers and said 'Twilight?'

Mina decided that she was having quite an interesting and exciting day.

* * *

Well, the wolf, which was really a human, seemed really ungrateful!  
Snuffles reaction was, of course, caused by pure surprise, the tomcat told itself, and not because she was afraid of _a human_ . Pwah!

Which was really a wolf, but not really.

Snuffles wasn't afraid, in any case.

Not one bit.  
Snuffles settled with waiting beside the wizards horse, radiating superiority and cat-liness.

* * *

Twilight felt herself being pulled up and before she knew it, she was face to face with Mina.

_Well, I guess she was gonna figure it out sooner or later,_ she thought to herself.

Blushing under her fur, Twilight gave an embarassed and nervous smile and nodded to the girl.

* * *

Jeannie smiled at the exchange between Twilight and Mina.

"OK Mina, lets get you home shall we? Patrick, you had better stick with us seeing as you don't know the city very well."

As Jeannie started walking the rest of the group automatically followed. She was used to giving orders and it showed in her voice sometimes.

Heading towards Shamlegger street Jeannie didn't say much, she was busy thinking about what was needed to get ready to leave the city. If they didn't hang about they might be able to leave today, or maybe first thing in the morning.

Jeannie couldn't help but feel that the sooner they left the better it would be. For some reason she was feeling uncomfortable still being in the city with that box.

After what seemed like no time at all, they arrived at Minas street

* * *

Patrick had secured his bag to the saddle and walked along with the group. He told Mina about snargs and mouls, Munrungs and Deftmenes.

"They were all in a book written by one of our elders. He had apparently spent some time with them when he was younger. Imagine coming face to face with a snarg!"

He'd tried for sometime to get his bearings in the city but soon gave up. There didn't seem to be any sense to how it was all put together. Not like home at least...

* * *

After climbing in through the window again, Mark took a glance at his bed and thought _It's now or never_ and climbed in. Sleep would help him think.

......Several hours passed......

Mark woke up. His eyes seemed to be sealed and his mouth had some sort of glue clamping it shut. He wondered if anyone else woke up like this. He shrugged and got out of bed, dressed and realised there was something he had to do today, but couldn't remember exactly what. Travel!! He was going somewhere but where?

He prepared his equipment as he normally did, and left his room, remembering to take his keys this time, and decided that a trip to The Guild would probably help.  
A check of the setting sun told him that it was approaching seven.  
_Nearly time for dinner_ he thought.

* * *

Mina was back on her street, it was big and grey and dirty, the patches of missing cobblestones meant that there were perpetual foul-smelling foetid puddles that they sometimes played boats in, and a rotting smell filled the air courtesy of Scruffs, the dead dog in the middle of the street.

Mina looked at all this, then looked back at the group that she had arrived with. She thought about how exciting the day had been. Then Mine thought about how her days were here: her mother was usually away for most of the day, and that meant that Mina was locked out in the street. Charlie was always getting her into trouble, but at least it was fun, and otherwise she had nothing to do.  
She liked the idea of meeting exciting beasts like snargs and munrungs, and besides, today she had been given a jam doughnut, two if you counted the one for Charlie; at home Mina only had a sandwich every day, and some bread in the evenings if mummy had earned enough that day.

That settled it. Mina turned round and announced to the group  
'I don't want to go home. I want to stay with you.'  
As she heard one of them start to protest, Mina raised her voice and said more forcefully 'I want to stay with you and see snargs, and eat jam doughnuts, and play with cat-man, and see magic! I don't like it here!'

* * *

Broc followed the group around. When Mina voiced her wants. Broc knelt down in front of her.

"Sure, Mina, you can go. But be warned. You could end up being like me."

Then his jaw choose the perfect moment to fall in Mina's hands. Broc rolled his eyes.

" 'ee? "

* * *

Seeing Mina stood there in the dirty street tugged at Jeannies heart, it really did, but she couldn't let a 6 year old child to come wiht them into the heart of Uberwald. Also no-one knew what this damn box was or what it could do. Kneeling down infront of Mina, she said what had to be said and hated herself for it

"I'm sorry Mina, but you can't come with us. We're going to a very dangerous place, even worse than the Shades. So I'm sorry, but..."

_...I'm going to leave you here living in poverty, with barely enough to eat and no-one to make sure you are ok...._

Jeannie thought to herself bitterly. But what was the alternative? They didn't know what they would be dealing with in Uberwald and the bits that they did know were dangerous enough.

Jeannie looked at the cats "Twilight, will you stay with her? She could use a good friend...I'm sorry Mina. I enjoyed meeting you."

Turning to Broc and Patrick she manged to turn on her sergeants voice

"Time to go back to the Watch house, we can arrange transport and provisions from there"

She felt terrible about leaving Mina behind but she just couldn't realistically allow her to come on such a dangerous mission

* * *

Patrick stood there looking into those eyes and didn't know what to do. He'd never seen a place like this before, but knew from his own childhood that this wasn't right.

"I uh, that is, I mean...

He knew what Jeannie was thinking and part of him knew she was right. Certainly. Yup. Uberwald would be no place for a six year old girl.

The other part of him that had once been a child in Ecalpon couldn't turn away from Mina.

As Broc tried to reassemble his jaw, Patrick absent-mindedly asked Mina to hold the reins for a second. He wanted a chance to talk to Jeannie.

He hadn't completely turned away from Mina when the horse, as if being commanded by a silent voice, knelt down in front of the girl and bent its head so that she could pet him.

"Well that's new."

* * *

First of all, Mina screamed as the jaw-bone dropped into her hands. Then the lady told Mina that she couldn't go at all! That was it. Mina's bottom lip was starting to tremble as she prepared to go into full tantrum mode when she was distracted by the horse whose reigns she had been told to hold. She went up to it and patted it on the head.

'Good horsey!' she told it with a smile. She realised she was still holding Twilight, so she said 'Pat the horse twi'ight!' When the cat didn't, Mina told her 'it's not scary' Mina took hold of her paw and forced the cat to pat the horse. 'See?'

Mina remembered why she had been on the point of crying. _s'not fair! I want to go too! Now they're going to go and see lots of snargs and eat jam doughnuts without me! S'not fair why can't I go? Huh! Grown ups always have excuses!It's dangerous here too!_ A couple of tears started rolling down Mina's face, any minute now, she was going to start wailing and the tantrum would start in earnest.

* * *

Twilight mew'd as Mina made her pet the horse. After a moment she noticed Mina's lip starting to tremble.

Acting like any other housecat would, Twilight, still in Mina's arms, reached out her neck and rubbed up against the girl's face. Kitty whiskers were one of the best ways of tickling a child

* * *

Instead of howling loudly as she had intended, caught slightly by surprise by the kitty whiskers, Mina started crying into the cat's fur instead. 'You know don't you puss?' she sobbed, forgetting that this was Twilight. She patted the horse again, and sat down next to it.

* * *

Mark arrived at the Guild gates to find Lord Downey waiting for him. The black coach was nearby with one of the guilds coachman sat upon it, reins in hand.

"Ah, Mark, fashionably late as per usual. Have you thought any more on the favour I asked of you?" enquired Downey.  
"Er..Yes m'Lord, it will be done as you have requested"  
"Jolly good, I do hope you and your....guide, enjoy Uberwald" and with that, he turned and left.  
_Uberwald? Ah, yes, thats where I was going. I don't remember any guide though_ thought Mark as he entered the coach.  
It was perfectly upholstered with red velvet inside, small curtains to block out the light which seemed a little odd, seeing as you couldn't see into the coach from the outside.  
The coach lurched into motion and Mark leaned forward on his rather comfortable seat to check the hidden compartments.

* * *

Jake looked at his watch and the wolf opposite looked at him, he had waited long enough. He took out a piece of paper and began to scribble on it though, something had occurred to him and it was important that she at least have some idea of what was going on. He turned to one of the servants that was staying behind.

"Please take this to the Watch House in Pseudopolis yard and give it to Sergeant Jeannie, please hand it to her personally, allow no other person to read this."

The man bowed and turned to carry out his task. Jake closed the coach door and could feel the apprehension of being in an enclosed space again. Opening the windows he banged on the roof and the coach took off. Uberwald it appeared would be the next stop.

* * *

Jeannie felt even worse when she saw the big tears rolling down Mina face, somehow the sobbing was worse than the the expected tantrum. She could see the way the others were looking at her, as if they could change her mind. Jeannie shook her head, feeling angry that she had to be the bad guy.

"No, I'm sorry but no. This isn't just a regular trip to Uberwald! We don't know what that box is but we do know that even the wizards are frightened of it. The letter called for a team of select _officers_, I'm _not_ taking a child on a dangerous mission...besides, you can't just keep children that you happen to take a liking to, no matter how sweet and deserving they are! That's called kidnapping, and it will get you a nice long stay in the Tanty!"

With that said, Jeannie looked again at the sobbing little girl, "I really am sorry Mina. But if...I mean, _when_ I come back, there'll always be a spare jam doughnut for you at the watch house ok?"

She turned away so she wouldn't have to see those sad eyes anymore. Folding her arms Jeannie began to walk away, she called back over her shoulder to avoid looking back

"I'm going to get the preparations started for the trip. Broc, see Patrick back to the watch house when he's ready will you?"

And with that Jeannie left Shamlegger Street, feeling horrible but having done the right thing. There were laws against just absconding with other peoples children, and although it broke her heart to hear Mina muffled sobs as she pressed her face into Twilights fur at least the child was safer here in the city.

* * *

Broc nodded at Jeannie, patted Mina sadly on the head and motioned for Patrick to follow him.

"so...Patrick, What made you want to go on this adventure?"

* * *

Patrick heard Broc and muttered something about not really _wanting_ to go on an adventure. He'd been saddled with a problem and had to deal with it. "There's a box that my mentor at the university gave me. Apparently it's the worst thing imaginable and somehow, probably because I'm the low man on the food chain, it was deemed my responsibilty to dispose of it. I should have stayed at home."

There was another problem sitting next to his horse that seemed more pressing right now though...

Motioning to Broc to wait a second, Patrick took a seat next to Mina on the dirty cobblestones. Pulling out the hanky she had given him earlier, he held it out to her, but before she could touch it, it took the form of a bird and flew up into the sky.

Reaching into his robe once more, he produced another hanky, really this time and offered it to the little one.

Looking up at Broc, Patrick asked him, "Have you heard of people that can talk to animals Broc? They have an uncommon bond with all manner of creatures. Sometimes they seem to anticipate the motion of an entire herd of beasts and can move accordingly....It isn't widely known, but these people are almost as powerful as your average witch. Once or twice every fifty years or so you find one that's almost wizard like."

Turning back to Mina and her captive pet, he asked her, "Tell me Mina, and you may have to think hard about this - can you sometimes hear the animals talk to you?"

He knew it was a very remote possibility, but if she could....Oh man would Jeannie be mad.

* * *

Brocs eyes widen. Could she really talk to- but no...could she?

" I dunno Patrick"

Broc kneeled down in front of Mina and looked deep in her eyes and repeated Patricks question.

* * *

Mina was slightly cheered up by the mention of jam doughnuts. She thought for a bit about the wizard's question. She sniffed hard. 'They do what I tell them to' she said at last 'and sometimes I can tell what they're thinking.' she sniffed again and then remembered about the hanky and wiped her face on it.

After a bit she added to the wizard 'your horsey doesn't like you, he thinks you're too scared and unpredicable. What's unpredicable?'

* * *

All this time a lot of thinking had happened in Snuffles brain. In the end, it managed to reach the decision: Must Follow Moving Rocks Because Eldritch Wosnname.  
So another period of intellectual effort ensued and Snuffles finally resorted to the good, old method of Doing What Others Did.  
He stood up on his two hind paws and walked to the 3 of them.  
He stood solemnly before them and, after a few false starts, managed to make his lower lip quiver, bring tears to his eyes and give the impression that he was seated somewhere lower that the rest of the group, thus defying (once again) many of the laws of physics, as cats often do.

* * *

Twilight looked into the girl's eyes, which were now red and puffy from the tears rolling down her face. If she could really read an animal's thoughts then-....Reaching up again, she licked Mina's face. The tears tasted salty on her rough tongue

When she was sure she got Mina's attention, Twilight looked back up into her eyes.

_Don't be sad,_ she thought _You've got a lot of new friends, including me_

* * *

Mina giggled despite herself as she felt the cat's tongue lick her face. As the cat looked at her, she felt for a moment that she shouldn't feel so sad, she had met lots of new friends today after all... She smiled, and stroked the cat.

Mina saw the big cat-man and laughed as she saw him pretend to cry! He was funny! She went up to him and said 'don't worry mister cat-man, you've met friends too!' She then grabbed his tail and proceeded to wipe his tears with it.

* * *

Mark arrived at the Von Uberwald estate. he wasn't sure what he was doing there until the coachman told him that his guide had already left.  
_Oh great, _thought Mark, _Now what do I do? _  
He was interupted by the driver, "Should I proceed to Uberwald Sir?"  
"Eh? Oh, yes, proceed" said Mark, being at a bit of a loss as to what to do. Downey's favour was on his mind and he couldn't quite remember why he was going to Uberwald.  
_Guess I'll find out when I get there_ He thought.

The coach started moving.

* * *

Patrick heard the answer Mina gave him and relaxed for a second. He could make this work. Taking a good look at the street, the condition of the house and the people passing them by, Patrick figured he'd have to make it work.

"Broc, do me a favor? Go tell Jeannie and the others that I - we'll be along shortly. I have to speak to her mother."

Looking at the other creature next to Mina, he realized that he'd seen some amazing things in his short life, but this was tops.

Remembering the question, he told the girl, " Unpredictable means...not always doing what other people expect you to do. Not doing what _they_ think you should do. It makes others nervous sometimes, but really it's not bad. As for me being scared, yeah, that might be a good word. I have to do something very important, but I'm not sure how to do it."

For whatever reason, he picked that time to look up and saw a woman approaching them. A worried look crossed her face for a second before she called out, "Mina? Who are you talking to now?"

Must be mother.

"Mina. Do me a favor? Watch after my horse for a minute? Maybe he can tell you what his name is. I have to go have a talk."

His hand reached into his robe and Patrick pulled out the letter that Ridcully had given him. _*If anybody gives you any trouble, just show them this*_

* * *

Before Jeannie went back to Psuedopolis Yard she headed first for her lodgings. Finding her pack, she filled it with various things that she felt might come in useful on the journey, including plenty of clothes. Being a werewolf meant that clothes didn't tend to last very long.

Not knowing how long she'd be gone for she paid her landlady a couple of months rent in advance and set off for the Yard. On her way Jeannie stopped off and purchased a couple of other things that she felt might come in useful. Satisfied that she was as personally prepared as was possible she went to the watch house.

The afternoon seemed to pass in a blur as arrangments were made. Vimes had managed to arrange a coach for later that evening, Jeannie had explained to him that she did not want a large team as that would just attract attention. So it was agreed, reluctantly on Vimes part, that the team would consist of just Jeannie Broc and Patrick.

With all arrangements in place Jeannie passed the time by assisting with prisoners, paperwork and other tasks around the watch house and when eventually she found herself with nothing to do she went to the canteen. It was now late afternoon and a good meal before they left wasn't a bad idea.

* * *

The coach seemed to fly, the sound of pounding horse hooves filled Jake's ears and sweat and leather filled his nostrils. He dosed fitfully as the coach raced its way towards his homelands, dreams of the hunt making him twitch and growl every now and again. The clacks might only take hours but the journey to Uberwald was always a long one and even now, a dangerous one. It sounded, from the note he had received, that it had got a great deal more dangerous in fact.

They stopped only to rest the horses, Jake's eyes always travelling to the mountains that they still had to pass through. It was bandit country and even a werewolf could get nervous around here. Surprising then that when the coach screamed to a halt and the driver fell from the seat, the smell of blood filling the air, that Jake felt nothing but anger and contempt.

"Come out vith your hands vhere we can see them! Ve don't vant to kill you, but ve vill if ve must."

Jake put his hand over his eyes, that had to be a fake accent, how could anyone have such a hatred of the letter W? They must have been very inattentive bandits. Who attacks a coach with the coat of arms of the Von Uberwald family on it? Either someone very stupid or someone who was very confident they could win. Jake motioned for the black wolf whose hackles had risen, to stay out of sight for the time being. Opening the door he came out.

"Ahh your Lordship how vise of you to join us."

Well the coach and sigil gave away his status or perhaps they were fishing. These were the sort of bandits who obviously intended to keep him until someone paid something for him. Jake could imagine that they'd be disappointed, however he said nothing and moved out of the way while one of them went into the coach.

It really was wrong, but the sound of the scream was most satisfying and the appearance of the large wolf appeared to lend further gravitas to the situation. While the bandits were still blinking Jake dived to one side, his cloak expanding and falling to the floor, a rather over-enthusiastic bandit shot a bolt into it, the cloak was pinned to the ground. The black wolf that was Jake's body guard peered at the man and knew that he would never have time to reload.

The two wolves padded through the countryside, carrying as much as a wolf was able to, Jake had managed to fashion a pouch into which he had put essentials, like a set of clothes. This way would certainly take them longer, but he doubted that they would be bothered by bandits or by wolves.

* * *

Mina wondered vaguely what the wizard was going to do. She then turned her attention back to the horse. 'You don't mind being called Marvin do you? ' she asked it. The horse whinnied and shook it's head.  
'Nice horsey! Sit!'  
She patted the horse until it lay down in the street, placed Twilight on it, and then sat on it herself. 'up now Marvin!' She exclaimed.  
The horse rose.  
'Yeeeeeee!' giggled Mina excitedly, having never been on a horse before. She saw her mother glaring at her and stopped abuptly.

* * *

Broc nodded to Patrick and headed off. As Broc neared the Yard some thing landed on his back and screamed loudly. Oh crap bashee. so what did Broc do. well he remembered some wizzard doing somethng like it. Running around he screamed.

"OHSH*TOHSH*TSH*T IM GOING TO DIEEEEEEEEE"

* * *

Twilight allowed herself to be placed on the horse's back as Mina got on as well. Not knowing what to expect, Twilight nearly jumped as the horse stood up. Clinging to its back, desperate not to fall off, Twilight tried to shake with fear without actually moving. The whole effect was something you'd pay to see

* * *

Jeannie was getting impatient, the afternoon was getting on and she was beginning to wonder what had happened to the others when she heard Brocs shriek. She looked out of the window, saw what was happening and ran outside. By the time she had got there though whatever it was that had scared Broc like that had gone.

He was still screaming, Jeannie managed to get Brocs attention long enough to say "Alright, it's gone!...and you're _already_ dead remember?"

Once Broc had got over the shock of whatever had attacked him, he passed on Patricks message. Jeannies eyes narrowed

"_They'll_ be along shortly? They? That wizard had better have a damn good explanation if he's done what I think he has!"

With nothing else left to do Jeannie got herself a hot cup of tea from the canteen and leant against the wall outside, waiting for Patrick to show up

* * *

The coach left the city. Mark figured that by tomorrow afternoon he would be in Uberwald. He wasn't sure about this gude he was supposed to have, maybe they would meet when he got there.  
Mark caried on honing the blade of the knife whilst looking out the window at the cabbage fields. He didn't like cabbage much, he couldn't see the point of it.  
He began reflecting on his career. It didn't take long as he couldn't remember much of it but he did remember the time that The Guild coach he was in being attacked by bandits.  
He then realised that it had never actually happened so maybe he was dreaming. Or he thought he was until the coachman dropped to the floor past the window and the coach came to a halt.  
He shifted position to look out the other window and counted three of them.

The funny thing about The Guild coach, was that when one bandit opened the door, there was no-one inside.

* * *

Patrick introduced himself to the woman and began to talk to her about her daughter. At first, the woman seemed indifferent; she didn't show the obvious signs of concern for a child that a 'normal' parent would.

After some time had passed, Patick almost had her convinced that as an apprentice, her daughter would receive a much better education than what was being offered now..for example.

"And I promise my dear, young Mina will be returned safe and sound without so much as a scratch. She'll be able to go to whatever passes in this city for a school and at the appropriate time will be brought to Ecalpon to finish her training."

The childs mother began to protest, using a minimal amount of energy to do so, when Patrick produced the letter from his robe.

"You see here ma'am, I have a letter from the Arch-Chancellor himself."

Taking the paper from Patrick, the woman read it - slowly - her lips moving with each word. At the end her eyes widened and the smallest smile crept acoss her face.

"Well sir! If Mr Ridcully gives his personal assurances, not to mention the matter of the fee - well, who am I to argue?"

Fee?, thought Patrick. Taking the leter back from the woman he decided he should really read the thing...and found himself staring at a blank piece of paper.

_That sneaky...._

Turning away and walking back to where Mina stood, he bent down and asked her, "Are you sure you want to go with us? I mean, really sure? We may be gone for some time. I'll make sure you get home again, but I want you to be sure about this. I tell you what, I'm going to head over to the Watch House and meet with Jeannie. You talk to your mother; if you're ready when I get back, you can go with us. Deal?"

Reaching up to grab his bag off the saddle, he decided to walk.

"I'll have to come back for my horse anyway. Take good care of him will you?"

Patrick made it to the Watch House in just a few minutes. He must have remembered the route better than he thought.

* * *

Jeannie wasn't waiting long before she saw Patrick walking towards the building. She straightend up and walked slowly over to him.

"Everything's almost ready for us to leave. Are you ready?" She asked this with a slight glint in her eye, she had a feeling she knew what was coming. She was fairly good at reading people and Patrick obviously had somthing he wanted to say...

* * *

"Well, uh, yes I'm ready. That is, I will be ready in uh, say an hour or so? I just have to get some minor supplies and I think I may want to go to the bank and turn in some of this paper for real money...coins, that is."

_Oh heck. Shell find out soon enough. Besides, I've had apprentices before - not like I don't know what I'm doing!_

Looking Jeannie squarely in the eyes, Patrick added, "And by the way, our little company may have just grown by one. Well, by a half at least. More like one point five if you count the big...cat. Crap! Look, I took on an apprentice okay? She'll be under my protection and you won't even know she's there most of the time!"

He almost thought about showing her the letter, but figured against it. Jeannie didn't look like the type that could be easily fooled.

* * *

Jeannie stood and listened to Patrick. He looked like he expected her to blow her top, but she simply nodded and replied

"Well, I can't interfere in who you choose to take on as your apprentice anymore than you can interfere in watch business. As you said she will be under _your_ protection. But may I ask, why Mina?"

* * *

Patrick hadn't expected that reaction. He'd thought it would be...louder?

"All my life I've had things simply handed to me. Everything. As a child I never went a day without something new to wear, play with, or keep for my very own. Even now, if and when I return home, my life will be so easy it's almost a sin."

He looked around at their surroundings as he continued.

"It didn't have to be Mina. It didn't have to be right now; trust me, I know the timing stinks. But for whatever reason I figured she deserved better than what she was getting; let her travel, see things she never dreamed of before. She'll be a better person for it in the long run. Then there's the fact that little Mina may end up as a fairly powerful witch or even maybe a wizard oneday. Things like that need to be nurtured and fine tuned."

He had done this before over the last few years and each time, the apprentice grew to be a respected and somewhat powerful member of the community.

"If she were left alone with that kind of power brewing inside of her, the gods only know what would happen."

Finished, he turned to walk away, "I promise you, I'll be one hundred percent responsible for her. Now, if we have time, I need to take care of those errands. I fear we may have to leave quickly, Ridcully will know I haven't left yet and he may get ideas."

As he walked toward the nearest shop he called over his shoulder, "I'll be back in a bit."

_You could have said thanks at least. You leave the University for the first time in months and completely take over her life._

Patrick made a mental note to himself to make it up to them, all of them, when this was over.

* * *

Jeannie wanted to be angry, she really did. The only clue to her rage was a brief orange flash in her eyes. But instead of getting angry she replied

"There are many, many kids who deserve better than what they are getting. I see them every day...But, if you think you can really help Mina to rise above the muck she's being raised in then...hold on, you think she has power?"

But Patrick had already begun to walk away. Jeanie shouted after him "We're leaving this evening, don't be too long"

* * *

Broc decided to keep quiet to Jeannie about what had attacked him. Broc smiled widely when he found out that Mina was coming. For some reason he liked her she reminded him of his- no dont think about it. He turned to Jeannie

"ill-ill get the coach ready. Im pretty sure Mister Vimes will lend us one.......Right?"

* * *

Jeannie nodded to Broc

"Yep, there has been a coach arranged for us. Get it hitched up and ready at the front of the building will you Broc? I want to try and get on our way tonight if we can"

Jeannie went back inside the watch house and took her pack from her locker. She went out to where Broc was preparing the coach and put her bag inside. She looked up at the sky, the sun was setting and evening was on its way.

Before long the coach was ready and they were just waiting for the others to arrive back at the watch house. Jeannie was inside, talking to one of the other officers when the dwarf who was on the front desk approached her looking slightly annoyed

"Sergeant, there's someone at the front desk who is asking for you. He is very insistent that he must see you personally"

Jeannie made her way to the front desk, there was a young man stood there. He gave her a brief nod as she approached "Sergeant Jeannie?"

"Thats right"

"I've been instructed to give you this" the man said holding out a piece of paper. As soon as Jeannie took it the man left.

She knew who the note was from before she'd even read it. Jakes familiar scent coverd the paper, she unfolded it. Her eyes raced over the words and her entire stance and expression changed. She stuck the note in her back pocket and marched outside to where Broc was seeing to the horses who were hitched up to the coach

"Broc we need to get moving. Right now! We'll pick up Patrick and Mina on the way."

As she climbed inside the coach she thought about the contents of Jakes note, it looked like Fate was determined for her to return to Uberwald no matter what.

* * *

The bandit peered into the coach. It was definitely empty. This was because Mark the Fiendish Assassin had slipped out under through the concealed trapdoor in the floor.  
The bandit turned round to tell the leader of the gang, but he seemed to choking at the moment, he would tell him in a minute and carefully walked round to the other side of the coach.  
Mark withdrew his dagger from the leader's throat and let him slump to the floor. He counted to four and whipped a throwing knife towards the front of the coach. It's target grunted and collapsed.  
A bolt whizzed over his head and Mark turned to see a very nervous bandit attempting to reload a crossbow.  
"Good Evening Sir, would you mind if I enquire as to how you would like to die?" asked Mark in a very polite tone.  
"Er...um..er...." was all the bandit managed to say.  
"You see, I can make it fast and quick or slow and painful, the choice is really up to you, but I am in a hurry so if you do not decide, maybe Fate will" said Mark removing a rather cruel looking curved dagger from under his cloak.

* * *

Once the wizard had left, Mina approached her mother apprehensively.

'You've been a naughty girl haven't you Mina?' said her mother, 'What did I tell you about talking to strange people?'

'But they weren't all strange, I asked them!' protested Mina. Although her mother sounded cross, she could see a slight smile on her face and decided that she didn't need to worry.

'You asked them if they were strange? Good grief! Well you've been naughty, especially with that man's horse: whatever possessed you to try and ride it? You could have fallen!'  
'Couldn't.'  
'Don't argue, anyway, the nice wizard has made me an offer: He thinks you're magical, Gods know why, and he's told me that he's willing to take you with him. He's promised that he'll look after you and feed you, which is more than I can promise.'  
Mina looked suitably sorry, but couldn't help smiling when she heard the news.  
'So you're happy to leave me are you? Well that's grateful!' Mina's mother sighed 'Well I can't say I blame you, the Gods know I'd get out of here myself if only I could.'  
'Can I get ready then?' asked Mina excitedly.  
'Look at you!' said her mummy disapprovingly 'Well I suppose so, but you've got to promise me to behave or the wizard we find out how much of a nuisance you really are, turn you into a disgusting slimy old toad, and bring you back here so that someone can tread on you.' Her mother looked amused at this, but Mina was terrified, she nodded hard.

'Now lets get your things, and... Let go of that dirty smelly cat this insant! I won't have such a mangy old thing in my house!'

'Sorry Twi'ight' murmered Mina as she dropped the cat and followed her mother into the house. She emerged a couple of minutes later holding a small bundle of clothes and a very scruffy looking teddy bear.

* * *

Twilight sat on the ground and watched as Mina followed her mother into the house.

_I'm not dirty and smelly,_ she thought to herself, _I just had a bath last month, and that's pretty clean by alleycat standards_

Twilight turned to see the large cat..thing was still standing there.

_Her mother sees_ that _and questions my_ bathing habits?

The sight of it still made her a bit nervous. Cats weren' supposed to walk on two feet and act like a human. She wasn't really one to talk, herself, but at least she _became_ a human first. Oh, well.

Twilight was relieved that her rather confusing traiin of thought was brought to an end when she saw Mina come back out of the house

* * *

"GOOD EVENING"

"Er...Hi. Um...Am I dead then?"

"NO, NOT AT ALL, I WAS JUST PASSING BY TO COLLECT YOUR FRIENDS"

"Oh. Well, I'll be on my way then"

"ACTUALLY, YOU ARE DEAD. JUST MY LITTLE JOKE"

Death watched as Mark wiped his blade clean, pulled the bodies out of the road and contemplated the coach. Mark didn't know how to drive a coach properly or how to get to Uberwald so he just sat by the side of the road waiting for the next one to come along in the hope it was heading in the right direction.

_I HAVE A FEELING YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE ME A VERY BUSY PERSON_ thought Death to himself. "COME ON BINKY, I COULD DO WITH A CURRY"

* * *

Their bodies leapt and stretched, eating up the miles, perhaps not has a quickly as a coach, but with a tireless pace that no horse could match. He had heard the howl and as they passed through wolf territories, he knew that they were aware of him. He was aware of how wolves hated his kind, he might look like a wolf but he smelt wrong and his family had done things that often meant that wolves took the fall. Wolves might distinguish between themselves and werewolves, but unfortunately hunters never did and neither did enraged mobs.

Of course there was always the danger on long journeys like this one that your human side would become, less important and more of a memory. A werewolf had to be careful, it sometimes happened to his grandfather, the Baron was not always sure how to cope in his human form.

As they neared Bonk Jake and his body guard slowed. Well he was called a bodyguard but Jake was well aware of what the wolf was really there for.

* * *

Patrick scooped up the pile of coins from the bank counter and dropped them into what seemed like one of a hundred pockets in his robe.

Taking his now heavier bag of supplies, he trudged out the door and headed towards the street that Mina lived on.

_This time yesterday I had no reason to expect I'd be out of the University. I can't say I'm sorry for it, but this is a bit new for me._

He thought about why he'd been sent there to begin with. "To control the power that resides in you", was the official line.

_More like to keep me away from the other poor saps that thought they were better than I am._

He turned the corner and saw Mina, the cats and his horse all waiting outside of her house. He smiled and waved. He was about to call out to them when he heard the sound of a fast approaching coach.

* * *

Minas mum was the kind of person who didn't see things that obviously weren't true, like that bloody large cat standing on two feet and looking at itself meditatively in a puddle.  
When she left, Snuffles looked up from the puddle and at the other cat. Then he looked back into the puddle. Then looked at the other cat again.  
He walked over to it and picked it up pretty brusquely, the cat let out a brief, squeaky and surprised 'Mew!'. He held it in outstreched arms in front of him and watched it attentively, as if expecting it to do something extrordinary. He then sniffed the cat with his huge nose and after that sniffed at its own armpit in a way suspiciously resembling humans at parties, wondering why everyone left when they approached.  
Snuffles then changed to another completely different trail of thought, in truly proper cat-like fashion, and dropped the cat, sat down and looked around curiously in spite of being in the same place for quite a while.

* * *

The coach arrived in Minas street, Jeannie was slightly surprised but extremely relieved to see that they were all there. It would save time not having to look for anyone.

As it slkowed to a stop outside Minas house Jeannie jumped down from the coach

"You're both ready? Good. Well then there's no point in waiting around, let's get on our way shall we?"

She didn't explain why the need to get to Uberwald was slightly more pressing now, but instead smiled at Mina.

"Looks like you get your adventure after all eh?Come on then, hop in. We need to get moving very soon"

Jeannie helped to secure various possessions to the roof of the coach before climbing back inside and waiting for the others to get onboard.

She kept thinking about the note and what it said, happy families wasn't a game often played amongst Jeannies kind but they pulled together when they had to and she needed to get back to Uberwald as soon as she could.

* * *

Twilight was terrified when Snuffles picked her up. Now that he had careleslly dropped her and continued on as if he hadn't done anything, she was pissed. Bearing her teeth, the fur on her back rose as she let out a menacing "Merouw!!" and hissed at him.

'_Idiot,_' she howled at him in cat language

Seeing the coach arrive, she hopped in and made it clear to everyone that she was going to reside under the seat. This was a cat's way of telling people she was pissed and could make it a whole lot worse for the other cat

* * *

Well, this would be it. He'd have to get on the horse and ride...try to ride.

Without much fanfare he secured his baggage to the rear of the coach and walked back toward the beast. It seemed larger now...

He grabbed the reins and whispered in the horses ear, "Alright now, no need to go sideways on me. A little consideration goes a long way."

Grabbing onto the saddle he placed one foot in the stirrup and pulled. It almost looked like he knew what he was doing! Sitting on the saddle was no problem..but be damned if he knew what to do next!

"Umm. I, uh...guess I'll follow you then. Right? Not too fast though?"

Hold on. Someone was missing. Where'd that great big cat thing get to?

* * *

So they'd be leaving whitout Snuffles? Just like that? After all they hadn't been through? The cheek.  
He'd have to go with them...  
He walked over to the horse, but had a vague feeling that even if he wore a saddle, they'd recognise him...  
He looked at the bags on the top of the coach, but he was very large and couldn't get comfy, which is one of the main goals of any type of cat.  
In the end, he did what his nature told him to and entered the coach nonchalantly and sat down, as there wasn't enough place for him to lie down, and pretended that, in spite of what anyone might say, he should be there and if anyone will try to move him away the world will end.  
He watched the rest of the group, trying to look organised, when he sensed Twilight below him.  
Kick! Mean but Satisfied Hiss!  
Well, she... it _had_ bitten him.

* * *

Jeannie watched Twilight board the coach, well that wasn't so odd. Her and Mina seemed to have really hit it off. Jeannie then watched Snuffles climb on board and watched the brief exchange between him and Twilight

_oooo-kay. The cats are coming too? _

She sighed quietly, it was becoming entirely possible that she would be doing more than her share of driving on this journey. Jeannie doubted she could tolerate the entire trip to Uberwald in such a tiny space with two cats, tolerant she may be but she was still a werewolf.

It occurred to her that out of the group only Broc knew that. Well, it would make things interesting certainly.

Once Mina and the cats were on the coach and Patrick was on his horse Jeannie gave the order to Broc to leave. As Jeannie stuck her head out of the window to look back she noticed Patrick was still on his horse, which hadn't moved. Jeannie cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled

"You have to kick it..."

As a Patrick shaped blur thundered past the coach Jeannie shouted again

"...not _that_ hard!"

* * *

Twilight felt Snuffles kick her and immediately jumped from under the seat. Jumping up into Mina's lap, she turned back to Snuffles and gave him a triumphant smile as if saying, 'At lest I can _fit_ under the seat. And I can even lay in someone's lap'

* * *

The cat stood up very noisily and ostentatively (tell me if the word doesen't exist ), waving his front paws around and knocking things over, to demonstrate that he was standing on _two feet_ . He then yawned loudly, covering his mouth with his paw, and stretched alot. He even stood on one foot for a short time.  
And then, with an immense effort, he let out the following sound:  
'Miiieenyoooouurreeofaaeeee!'  
He wouldve continued this show, but was top shocked at his amazing knowledge of words, although this depended on your point of view, so he sat down with a victorious grin

* * *

Twilight's expression was impassive. She merely hopped onto the floor of the coach in front of Snuffles, and morphed into a human. Looming over him, standing on _her_ two feet, she picked up the giant cat by the scruff of his neck and held him at eye level.

"I can _be_ a human, ya dumb cat!" she said. Dropping him back onto his seat, Twilight morphed back into her natural cat form, and reclaimed her place on Mina's lap. She sat with her head held high and her chest puffed out, radiating pride

* * *

Mark sat on the grass bank in the setting evening sun. The horses attached to his coach stood there, oblivious to what had happened around them. Mark wished he had a saddle to ride one of them, but a)He didn't, b)Assassins have standards and c)He still didn't know how to get to Uberwald.

He figured he was only 10 miles from the city so he decided to walk back that way and try and hitch a lift as he went.

* * *

"Oh crrrraaaaaaaap!"

Patrick had the very real sense that this was not supposed to be the way to ride a horse! He was holding onto the reins with a death grip to keep from flying out of the saddle.

"Nice horse! Nice horse!

The bouncing was horrible; his kidneys sought refuge where his lungs should be and yesterdays dinner was looking for an exit.

"I said NICE HORSE!

People dove for cover as he raced down the cobble streets, carts overturned and one old man threw something at him as he flew by.

"NOT helping!"

_I'm going to die on this thing, I know it!_

Thankfully enough the beast appeared to know its way out of the city as up ahead, Patrick could see one of the gates. It occured to him that maybe Ridcully had given the horse instructions

* * *

It didn't take long to leave the city, even less time in Patricks case. The horse seemed to slow to a more settled pace once out of the city and the coach easily caught up with it.

Jeannie looked over at Mina and the cats, and wondered just how bad her life in the city was if she could leave her home and mother so happily. Well, who knew what lay in store for the little girl now. Jeannie just hoped the wizard knew what he was doing. The rather bizarre exchange between the cats just caused Jeannie to shake her head, she was doing her best to ignore the two felines but the wolf was becoming less tolerant.

The first hour or so of the journey was uneventful, Jeannie was about to get herself comfortable and try and get some sleep when the coach began to slow down. Looking out of the window she saw the cloaked figure of the assassin from earlier. He must have run in trouble on the road ahead. When the coach stopped Jeannie opened the door and stepped out

"Need some assistance?"

Something occurred to her "Weren't you supposed to be travelling with Jake?"

* * *

Mina giggled excitedly as she saw the wizard flash by on Marvin the disgruntled horse. Then she remembered what her mother had said about toads, and stopped abuptly. Mina then brought her attention back to the cats who were apparantly trying to out do one another. Mina grinned at their antics. After a while she decided that they should be friends, so she told them both  
'you're being very silly! Now make friends.' She picked Twilight up from off her lap, and placed her next to the big cat.  
'Say sorry and promise to be nice to each other!'

Suddenly, Mina had a flash of how unnatural the big cat must seem to Twilight, so she told her  
'Well you're strange too you know, you told me so!' and to the other cat she simply said 'and you! Stop showing off!'

At that point Mina realised that the coach had stopped. Worried that she might have been naughty without realising it, as she often was at home, she shrank back into a corner, trying very hard to look good so that she wouldn't be turned into a toad and trodden on.

* * *

Having the good sense to stop trying to control the horse sometime ago, Patrick did not attempt to spur the beast on as it slowed then stopped next to the carriage in the middle of the road.

Jeannie got of the coach and approached the assassin, giving Patrick the minute he needed to drop down and let the blood circulate again.

_Someday there will be a better way to do this..._

As he limped over to the coach he called out to Broc, "Please tell me we're almost there. Right? It's just around that bend in the road up there?"

Moving to the back, he pulled open a flap on his bag and reached inside grabbing a small brightly colored pouch. Knocking on the door of the coach, Patrick pulled it open to find Mina, Snuffles and Twilight quietly sitting inside.

"Anybody hungry? It occured to me that although I had Second Breakfast this morning it must be snack time by now." Handing the pouch to Mina he told her to keep it for the trip and that she could share with the cats if she liked. "Should be something in there for them as well."

Smiling, he turned to head over to where Jeannie was talking. Taking the reins in hand he led the horse.

* * *

Mark watched as the zombie from earlier brought the coach to a stop with a skillful display of pulling on the reins and just being more determined than the horses in front of him.  
The door opened and the Sergeant from this morning stepped out.

"Some assistance? Yes, that would be very nice. Jake? Yes! I remember now, I think I was supposed to meet him in Ankh-Morpork but he had already left. WOuld by chance happen to be heading towards Uberwald as well?" asked Mark with hope in his eyes, "Er..I was attacked by bandits...but I did give them a chance, they just didn't take it, unfortunately, they have left me with no driver and we were never given a course in how to make a coach move at school"

Mark saw the wizard from earlier try to get off the horse in a rush and approached the coach with a small bag. He wondered who else from today could be in there. Possibly the residents of an entire street at this rate.

* * *

Jeannie nodded to the Assassin "As it happens, yes we are headed to Uberwald, but you already knew that" Then Jeannie rememberd the apparant memory problems that this particular man seemed to have and shrugged. "I'm sure the others won't object if you join us, if you can singlehandedly take on a group of bandits then your skills could come in useful"

Jeannie was aware of Patrick walking over and standing next to her as she extended her hand to the assassin.

"If we are going to be travelling companions I can hardly keeping thinking of you as 'The Assassin'.My name's Jeannie and you are...?"

* * *

Broc glared at the assissan. When the assassin met his eyes, and tried to convey that if the assassin did come with them and made one threating move towards any of his friends then the assassin would have a very, Very, VERY, **VERY** , _VERY_ , unpleasent experince.

* * *

Snuffles had just sat in a corner, arms folded, eyes narrowed and peering at Twilight. He tried, in spite of having witnessed that horribly disgusting transformation, to appear dignified, as if to say: 'Well, _I_ can be _both_ !'  
It didn't work very well, but he couldn't just sit there and do nothing. Even though that was what he did. Only that he didn't.

* * *

Mark took Jeannie's hand and bowed his head.

"Mark, very pleased to meet you Sergeant Jeannie" he said and then offered his hand to the wizard, "..and you are...?"

A quick glance at the zombie told him that they were not going to get on no matter what assurances he gave him. Mark just settled for a couteous nod in his direction.

"My guide, this Jake, is probably already halfway there by now, I can only presume that he will find us. Lord Downey gave me the name of an inn that will be most suitable"

Mark peered into the carriage. He wasn't sure what he saw but that little girl was in there and that odd looking...cat thing. Maybe it was a costume, after all, there were some very strange people in Ankh-Morpork.

* * *

Snuffles walked out of the coach towards the newly arrived man. He felt sympathy for him, if only because he was dressed totally in black.  
He extended himself to his full height and extened a fluffy paw.

* * *

The werewolf leapt out of the undergrowth, Jake had not even heard the snap of a twig; he really was out of practise. With a "Woof!" of air being expelled from his lungs, Jake was smashed to the ground. There was a searing pain and a crunch of bone and Jake knew his opponent had snapped his leg. With a roar Jake's bodyguard leapt at his master's attacker, there was a fight, but more were appearing. Jake knew that smell, it was Jeannie's smell, or at least similar, these must be the Adalwulf family.

Luck must have been smiling on him as none of them managed to get a long enough hold on his throat to snap it. No matter how good his bodyguard was, there appeared to be a small pack of the Adalwulf wolves, they had to get to their own lands or they would be in trouble. Leaping as best he could out of the way of another lunge, he signalled to his only ally and fled the wolves in hot pursuit.

Jake's leg hung limply and uselessly as he ran, their ambushers so close he could feel their breath on his heels. Unsure of which direction he was going, it came as a shock when he appeared in the middle of the main road into Bonk. Looking he saw a coach that appeared to be moving at breakneck speeds and he fancied the person behind the reins, looking slightly startled, was Broc. Jake didn't think that the zombie had control of the horses and leapt to the other side of the road. There was a satisfying scream as one of the other wolves was trampled beneath the horses and then the wheels. The coach leapt into the air and came to a halt. Jake, bleeding and panting hid in the bushes watched to see if it had been his friends.

* * *

Jeannie smiled at Mark

"Trust me, I'm sure Jake will find us if he needs to. As for a guide, I grew up in Uberwald so I'll do my best to help you if I can. First though we need to head towards Bonk, my families territories...*ahem* I mean, _estates_ are near there"

Before they boarded the coach Jeannie introduced Mark to the others, including the insistent Snuffles

Once everyone was back on board, or in the case of Patrick back on the horse, Jeannie again shouted for Broc to carry on. There was several minutes of polite conversation inside the coach and Jeannie was searching in her pack for a deck of playing cards that she was sure she had put in there when they drew close to where the bandits had tried to ambush Mark. Unfortunately, due to the struggle between Mark and the bandits there was blood on the ground and not in small amounts either.

Jeannie did her best to try not to inhale the scent but there was a lot of it, that strong red haze filled her senses and she could practically taste the blood. This got the wolfs full attention, no matter how hard she breathed each breath was full of the scent

_oh crap! Not here!Not now! Not with a child onboard!_

doing her best to fight the wolf she stuck her head out of the window

"Broc! Can we go a bit faster please?"

She hoped he would see the blood and understand the urgency. Thankfully he seemed to understand and spurred the horses on until they were travelling at a nice quick pace and the blood scent was fading behind them. Jeannie hoped none of the others had noticed the effect it had had on her as she sat back down on the seat. She turned her attention back to searching for the cards, a welcome distraction from what had very nearly happened

* * *

"....And this is an example of a wild onion and here we have..," Mark picked up a few more cards and replaced some, "..a triple onion."

Mark was trying to explain the rules of Cripple Mr Onion to Mina. She seemed to take it all in but kept giggling at all the names of the various sets. She had a very infectious giggle and although assassins are normally...deadly serious at all times, Mark did let out a small chuckle.

_It's far too realistic to be a costume_ thought Mark as he looked at the human-sized cat, _Mind you, if weird is what you want, I suppose you're heading for the right place, just hope you like dogs_

He had spotted the cat curled up on Mina's lap, but thought nothing of it. Broc was a zombie, the wizard had been stitched up and then there was Jeannie...she grew up in Uberwald and she certainly wasn't an Igor, so what was she? Mark had his suspicions.

* * *

With all of Mina's giggling her lap became far too bouncy for any comfort for a cat. Leaping off of the small girl's lap, Twilight landed onto Mark's. Cat's liked assassins. No one could really explain why. Barely the cats even knew. It was just some unexplained attraction. And Twilight thought the color black was cool anyway.

Laying down and getting confortable, Twilight scratched at the assassin's leg as if to say, 'You've got two hands, use one to pet me' After successfully getting his attention, she relaxed and began to doze, she wouldn't let herself fall asleep, though. She didn't want to make herself vulnerable to Snuffles

* * *

Patrick gave up trying to hold the reins any longer. Both arms were now wrapped the neck of the horse as it bounded down the road sometimes chasing the coach, other times leading it.

_This is far enough isn't it? I could throw the box down anywhere out here and it would be as good as lost right?_

For all the schooling he had been exposed to, riding had never been a course offered. He swore that as soon as this was all over he'd never gt back on a horse again.

* * *

Watching Mark trying to teach Mina how to play cards, Jeannie couldn't help but smile. Mina did have a very infectious giggle

Settling back in her seat Jeannie contemplated the events that had led her to travel back to her home. Jakes note troubled her, probably even more so than the thing that Patrick was carrying....

Jeannie jumped at a noise outside the coach and she realised she must have fallen asleep. Whatever was out there was obviously spooking the horses, Jeannie caught a fading wail as what smelled like Patrick on his horse thunderd past in the darkness.

The coach was really picking up speed now, the horses had panicked. Whether it was bandits or somthing else Jeannie couldn't be sure but whatever it had been must have been left far behind as the coach raced down the road

After a few minutes the coach hit something, there was a horribly familiar yelp. Jeannie threw open the door and was out of the coach before it had completely stopped, she ran over to the mangled body on the scent told her who it was before she had even got there. Skidding to a stop next to the body she knelt by her brother. He would live, but he would be feeling very sorry for himself for a while

"You idiot! What have you been doing now? Look at you...."

She stopped, on the breeze she caught another scent. Jeannie looked up, just behind the bushes not far up the road she could just make out a dark shape.

_Jake?_

* * *

Mark stood up as soon as Jeannie leapt out of the door. Twilight fell of his lap much to the cat things amusement.

"Can you stay in here for me Mina? I'll be back in a minute" He bowed to the little girl, nodded at the cat thing as it seemed appropriate and joined Jeannie outside.

His senses heightened. Something wasn't quite right but he didn't know what. Looking around, he saw several things move at once behind bushes.

Not looking at Jeannie, whose body covered her brothers, he kept an eye out for danger.

"More bandits?" He asked with hope in his voice.

* * *

Broc jumped off the coach and had his sword out. Glancing at Mark he mutterd

"get ready."

While he hated assassins he knew that they could fight. Broc heard rustling in the bushes.

"Come out now or go headless for the rest of your life......which would be the next few seconds"

* * *

Mina accepted the wizard's food gratefully and fought the urge to wolf it down. Luckily at that moment she was distracted by the arrival of the assassin man who had talked to her earlier.

As the coach picked up speed again she noticed the watch-lady looking tense and alarmed, Mina looked out of the window and saw a lot of blood on the ground. So that was why... Mina didn't like blood much either. Mina, who had shrunk back into the corner of the seat when she saw the watch-lady's expression, sat up straighter again.

Soon she began to enjoy the company of the assassin. He was funny. And there were cards called onions! And double onions! And wild onions!  
'Heeheeheeheeheehee!' went Mina, 'Cheese and onion? Heeheeheehee!'  
At this point twiliht jumped off Mina's lap and climbed on to the assassin's.

Mina heard a yell as the wizzard zoomed past the window again.  
'Heeheeheeheehee!'  
She remembered what he had asked her before she went on the journey and decided to think out to the horse to help the wizzard.  
_Hey Marvin! Not too quick! He's not scary really! Don't worry!_  
Mina squealed with excitement as she saw the horse slow down noticeably. So it was true!!! Wow! Was that magic? Maybe the wizard had taught her some already!

The coach stopped suddenly, as the assassin and the watch-lady got out of the coach, she reached over to Twilight and stroked her while thinking _can you hear me?_

Mina stroked the cat clumsily.  
'Minou MinouMinouMinou! Nice minou pussy cat!' she said forgetting again that this was her friend Twilight.

* * *

Mark had one of his hands behind his back in his typical 'You have no idea what I'm gonna do but it'll really hurt' pose. He located one of his throwing knives and slipped it into his hand. The other hand hovered over his sword.

Mark stood still and watched the bushes. Could the zombie sense death? Mark didn't know but he felt the adrenaline kick in.

It seemed whoever was hiding in there had no compulsion to get into a what would be a pretty one-sided fight with a zombie and an assassin.  
Mark felt a little disappointed.

* * *

Twilight sat up when she felt Mina stroking her. When the assassin had stood up, she'd fallen off his lap and wasn't fully awake again until she hit the floor of the coach. She heard Mina in her mind.

_I can hear you,_ she thought back, purring as the girl stroked her

* * *

Jeanie shook her head at Marks question, she could smell blood mixed with Jakes scent and had a horrible feeling she knew what had happend and why her brother had run infront of the coach. If she was correct then it served her brother right. She had no time for the feud between the families but idiots like him used it as an excuse to go hunting

"No, not here, don't move! Those knives will only help you if they are silver tipped."

She picked up her brothers body and slung him over her shoulder. Deliberatly not looking at the others she walked away into the bushes where she could sense four other members of her family.

Once she was far enough into the undergrowth she said quietly

"I know you're there, I can smell you."

The dark shapes slunk between the bushes towards her. Jeannie put her brother down on the ground infront of them.

"Get him home, and tell _her_ that I'm back. I have things to do first but I'll come to the house shortly." Turning away she snarled "And leave me alone until I do!"

She made her way back to the road, hearing the werewolves slink away through the bushes and trees. Jeannie looked at the others, well they would have found out at some point anyway

"I'll explain later"

Once she was sure the wolves had gone she walked over to where she could smell that Jake was concealing himself. She approached slowly, giving him plenty of time to recognise her. Not knowing how long he'd been in wolf form she was cautious incase the wolf was stronger.

* * *

The low but insistent growl was quite clear it said _Coming any closer would not be a good idea if you like all your bits in the right place_. Of course whether he was able to take on the Adalwulf in front of him, an Assassin and a zombie, with his broken leg was another matter, but the wolf seemed to be willing to give it a go. Still the wolf that was Jake obviously decided that backing slightly deeper into the foliage was a good idea, his eyes watched Jeannie's every move. Jake might have been in control, but a wounded animal is a wounded animal. However, wounded animals generally didn't talk in canine to an enemy, but this is what Jake did now.

_Tell the Assassin to take his hands away from his weapons, it is making the wolf that is with me nervous and either of them dying right now is a bad idea._

He continued to watch Jeannie, his mind seemed to be slightly fogged, Jake's intelligence was there, but the broken leg and her smell were certainly making the wolf weary, after all it had just been her family that had attacked him. He was in a predicament however, while Jeannie was around he doubted that her family would attack, when they all left, would he be able to be so sure that they wouldn't try and finish the job, mind you without silver he could of course just wake up again right?. Although that did pose another question, where would he wake up if it was the Adalwulfs who had him.

_The Assassin…_ Jake stopped, it appeared to be an effort for him to think in human _He is working for Ve-The Patrician so you should be able to stay at the embassy_

The breeze changed and suddenly Jake appeared to be twice the size as his hackles and mane stood on end.

_You brought cats? HERE?_

It was clear he was suppressing an almost overwhelming desire to dash into the coach. He needed to get somewhere safer, how he was going to do that of course was still a bit of a problem, but he just needed to think.

* * *

Jeannie stopped when the growl came out of the bushes and let out one of her own

_Don't you dare threaten me! _

"Mark, take your hands off your weapons. Broc, you too...do it now! It's making them nervous"

Jeannie could tell that Jake was wounded but wasn't about to get any closer to see how badly he was hurt. She could probably take one of them if she had to but the odds of beating both of them were slim so she kept her distance and hoped Jake would remember that she was Jeannie, his friend and not just a Von Adalwulf. Seeing his reaction to the cats she replied with a shrug

"The cats brought themselves, what they do is no concern of mine. Kindly refrain from trying to eat them though, it'll upset the child"

In the distance a howl went up, the pack would be returning soon. They all needed to get out of here and soon. She knew that Jake and the other wolf had heard it too

* * *

Jake watched every twitch and movement that Jeannie made and took another step backwards. The large black wolf that had accompanied Jake seemed to melt out of the shadows and appear next to his charge, the black wolf appeared to dwarf even Jake's form and although he had injuries none of them were anything more than flesh wounds.

He heard her speak in human and concentrated when she turned back to him and spoke again, his ears swivelling to catch the sound. When the howl went up his ears sprang flat against his skull and he took another step deeper into the foliage. In wolf form he could hear the crashing of wolves through the undergrowth, they were still a distance away, but they were coming.

_Your pack is coming, it is not safe here for any of them inside of the coach. Go to the embassy it will be safer there_

Of course, now he had to think of a way to out run a pack with a broken leg. He'd been in worst situations, it was just that none appeared to be coming to mind at the moment. He could howl for his own pack, but then what? Another mess. The door of the coach was open, but a couple of wolves in a coach would not be a good idea. What he really needed to do was to shift back, a feet that was beyond him with a broken leg and even as fast as werewolves healed, a broken leg would take a little longer than they had.

Looking at Jeannie he could see her frustration and for some reason, had the distinct impression that if the other wolf had not been there she would have tried grabbing him and hoisting him inside of the coach. He heard the wolves coming closer.

_Go, they are coming_

* * *

He was right, she knew he was and they didn't have much time. But she was torn between what to do. They could easily catch him in his injured state and impressive though his bodyguard was it would be no match for the sheer visciousness of the impending attack.

With the frustration welling inside her she turned to the others and yelled at them

"Everybody back in the coach! We have to get out of here NOW!" She spotted Patricks horse, and looked back at Jake. The two wolves couldn't get in the coach but maybe....

She spoke in canine, it was quicker than human

_You won't be able to outrun them but I can take you on the horse. The big wolf can run next to us._

She couldn't think of any other way to get Jake away from her pack. Of course if the Adadwulfs saw her protecting an Uberwald they would turn on her too, but at the moment getting everyone safely to the embassy was more important and they were running out of time...

* * *

Jake looked at her, it was clear that his werewolf pride was struggling with his wolf's survival instinct. Jake shook his head, it was getting harder to think like a person.

_The horse will never allow you to put me on it_

Jake turned away and spoke to his bodyguard, there appeared to be an argument, growls got louder and then silence. The bodyguard disappeared. A few moments later the man that had come to give Jake the message appeared, he took a look at Jeannie.

"I will drive the coach and, Jake, as you call him, will ride on the seat next to me."

Jake looked at Jeannie

_As you said, if your family see you helping me they will not look kindly on it, if my family knows you've helped me they will not thank you. This way the pack will not see you._

Jake moved from the bushes he followed the huge man, his wound was clear now. Blood had completely matted the back leg and it stuck at a sickening angle, there was no doubt, it was completely useless for the time being.

* * *

Jeannie looked back at the man and nodded, it was a sensible idea and she couldn't think of a better one. Something about the bodyguard annoyed her though, she couldn't put her finger on it.

Jeannie smiled a small smile in agreement with Jake. When he emerged from the bushes she saw the full extent of his injuries. It looked pretty horrific, but that was hardly surprising considering a werewolf had caused it. The scent of the blood and seeing her friend hurt made her blood boil, she hoped the coach had really hurt Varick when it had rolled over him. She had a volatile relationship with her brother, and it pissed her off that he had done this.

She wanted to say sorry to Jake for her idiot brother and his hunting pack, but there was no time.  
The noise of the approaching pack was getting uncomfortably close, Jeannie looked around to make sure everyone was ready to leave then jumped aboard the coach swinging the door closed behind her.

"Everyone ready? This could get bumpy"

* * *

Mark had removed his hands from his assortment of surprises.

"Silver tipped? On Lord Downey's recommendation, all the weapons I have with me are solid silver Sergeant"

Hearing the growls coming from the bushes but hearing no signs of a struggle, he followed Jeannie's command and got back into the coach. He attempted to distract Mina with the cards again.

He noticed the cat-man looking a little on edge.

_Yes, if I were surrounded by this many dogs I'd be a little nervous too_ He thought.

* * *

It was only when Jeannie had closed the door did he bark to the large man who took up the reins. The horses whinnied and their ears flicked frantically, it was clear that the presence of so many predators unnerved them. As Jake passed the window of the coach he saw the face of a small girl and clung tight to her chest, a cat. Jake's eyes locked onto the cats, he did not snarl, but the fires of angry humiliation bore into the creature. Hobbling past he sprang awkwardly onto the drivers seat and felt his entire body pressed against the coach as the break was released. The forest became nothing but a green blur and the coach sprang up and down as though it were attempting to take off. They turned around corners and at one point Jake could have sworn that sparks flew from the only two wheels that appeared to be touching the ground. The pack fell back, but he knew that there would be another run in with them and something else he sensed, the distinct and unwelcome feel of silver, very close. Involuntarily he growled low, but the sound of it was lost in the roaring of the wind they stirred up as they shot, bullet like, towards Bonk and the embassy

* * *

The coach thundered and rattled along the road, as the baying pack fell away behind them Jeannie glared at Mark while gripping onto the seat to stop herself from being unceremoniously bounced onto the floor

"Solid silver weapons? A sensible precaution I suppose but I'm sure an observant man like yourself will understand why that makes me uncomfortable. Just keep them well away from me please"

The coach tilted as it went round a corner, Jeannie put her arm around Mina to stop her from being slammed into the side of the coach. Holding onto the little girl Jeannie tried to see how far from Bonk they were but gave up trying to make sense of the blur which was whizzing past the window

* * *

Mark understood where Jeannie was coming from.

"Do not worry, I have no intention of using them on anyone that they may...affect...in this group, they are for my protection only. Will we be stopping for the night in Bonk? I'm not sure the horses can keep up this pace for much longer"

Mark whispered to Broc "Please forgive me but I have no knowledge of such things; Does silver make you nervous also?"

Taking a glance at Mina, he wondered what she thought of all this going on around her. The rest of the group all had dealings with death on a daily (or nightly) basis. She reminded him of his sister before..... He put the thought out of his mind. It was a bad place to be.

Mark then did something beyond belief.  
He remembered.  
There was a wizard wasn't there?

* * *

Patrick hadn't been able to do much from his position once the coach had stopped. He had seen shapes moving in the brush, saw Jeannie and the others around the coach and knew something wasn't right.

The damn horse had come to a complete stop in the road and wouldn't budge for all his trying. After a few minutes the coach took off again, thundering right passed him. Behind them he could see more shapes shifting and moving in the undergrowth.

As the coach rounded the bend in the road ahead of him, Patrick figured he might be able to delay the pursuers - if there were any. Rubbing his hands to together he generated enough heat; closing his eyes he imagined what he wanted; releasing his hands he exhaled.

Five small orbs rose out of his hands and lobbed themselves in a long arc to where the coach had stopped a moment before. As each orb hit the ground there was a chest shuddering *whump* and a brilliant shower of light and sparks erupted into the air. Clouds of dirt, smoke and pebbles rose up creating a cloud that obscured the immediate area.

Having to shield his own eyes from being momentarily blinded he figured anyone or anything not expecting that was probably seeing nothing but spots in front of them right now. ears might be ringing a bit.

_Might buy us a few minutes. Need to work on the delivery though..._

Without warning the horse started at a trot and then a gallop, although a bit smoother than before. Within a minute Patrick was catching up to the coach

* * *

Managing to look out of the window Jeanie was relived to see that Patrick was keeping up well with the speeding coach.

She shrugged at Marks question "I have no idea where we are going to stop. At this rate it'll be where ever the horses drop from exhaustion"

Jeannie kept hold of Mina, the coach was still jerking everywhere and she didn't want the little girl to get hurt. She let the cats take care of themselves, it was pretty amusing to watch

* * *

When Twilight saw the werewolf she had curled up against Mina as best as she could. When She heard Jeannie talking in _dog_ she nearly jumped out of her fur.

Now, that she was bouncing up and down in a renegade coach she began questioning why she had come along in the first place.

Looking around, she saw Jeannie _smiling_ at Twilight's attempts to find solid ground. She was mad but, still, the humans did seem to have a better time staying in their seat in this rogue coach, so Twilight took on her human shape.

Clenching the seat with her hands, she looked over to Jeannie.

"I saw you smiling at me, and I hope you realize that I'm going to shed all over your things, later" her voice shook with the coach as she spoke

* * *

Mark looked at Jeannie and keeping his voice low so Mina didn't overhear, made an observation

"Do you know that the chances of the horses dropping in the middle of the countryside are far greater than them dropping in a town. And should that happen, it could get...well, lets just say it'll get complicated"

Mark looked out the window of the coach, then at the roof.

"I'm just stepping outside for a while"

Mark climbed through the window and hauled himself onto the roof to keep an eye on what was happening behind them.

* * *

Jeannie nodded to Mark

"Trust me, if my family catches up with us out here I'm only too aware of how complicated it could get" She decided that a detailed explanation could wait until later and watched Mark climb out of the window

"Let me know whats going on out there ok?"

Jeannie listened to Twilights threat and couldn't help the huge grin that spread on her face. Twilight looked so serious, and maybe to a cat that was classed as revenge but it made Jeannie chuckle which turned into a real belly laugh.

Still holding onto Mina Jeannie tried to keep her other hand gripping the seat as she laughed so hard that tears began to roll down her cheeks.

* * *

Jake looked up at the Assassin as he came onto the roof and the feeling of silver got all the closer, he growled a very real warning at the man. The coach, if it was possible seemed to accelerate all the more and Jake knew where they were headed. They were in the direction of the Embassy of course but they were cutting through Von Uberwald territory a safer bet, well for most of them at least.

The forest flew by in a blur of green and dappled light, steam wafted from the horses, but they appeared all too keen on running as they knew that if they stopped they would be near werewolves. They hit a rut, the coach lurched and there was a crack, Jake would have flown off the seat had not the large man caught him and held him fast to the seat. Another rut like that and the wheel would surely come off. Luckily it was then they hit a more formal road, the trees thinned and the darkening sky lit the Ankh Morpork Embassy. The large man began to break, the horses were still not ready to stop, it was as well that he had started breaking now. Their speed slowly decreased, their goal racing ever closer until at last they appeared in front of the building. There was a crack and an almost audible sigh and the coaches wheel, fell off. The horses panted and one of them feinted the other deciding it would be a good time to lie down, traces or no, so it did.

A few moments later there was another sigh and a crack and the other wheel span off. There was a tink tink and then silence. Jake struggled down and made some attempt to staunch the flow of blood by licking the wound. Igor limped to the gates and looked at them.

"Can I help you?"

Mark waved something quickly at igor who opened the gates for them. Jake really didn't want to stay here, he still couldn't shift but there was no way he could reasonable assume he could get to his family's home during the night, it also meant that Jeannie was the only one who would understand him, and of course his nanny.

He watched as the group came out, they all looked…a little wobbly. He stood back from them, they had seen Jake, they had not seen, wolf-Jake. As Jeannie stepped out. He spoke to her though

_The Assassin is carrying silver, how long does he thing he is going to live? It is illegal in Uberwald._

Jake wished that werewolf healing meant that he didn't have to feel the throbbing pain of his leg, unfortunately werewolves might be able to take a lot of damage, didn't mean that it didn't hurt.

* * *

Jeannies laughter was soon quelled when she looked out of the open window and caught a scent that was breezing in. As an Adalwulf she had never been deep into Uberwald territory but she knew the Uberwald scent well enough. There must have been a couple of them fairly close to the coach for her to smell them, that wasn't comforting. Thankfully the scent faded away and the horses kept going, the coach rocking and jolting its way through the trees

Out of everyone on the coach, Jeannie was in the most danger if the horses dropped and they got stuck here. She sat in silence and felt a huge amount of relief when they finally arrived at the embassy.

Opening the door of the coach Jeannie helped Mina out and turned when she heard Jake speak to her. She replied

_Illegal or not, the Low King is mining it again. The assassin can take care of himself_

She looked again at his injuries, the scent of his blood was strong and fresh. Her inner wolf sat up and took notice, for now though Jeannie managed to stay on top of it.

_That looks bad. you can't change yet can you?_

That wasn't good, staying in wolf form for too long was dangerous. The wolf was a strong form and could overwhelm the human part. But she tried not to show her concern, Jake was a proud werewolf and she doubted her sympathy would be well recieved. So instead she simply said

_Resting here tomight would be sensible. We can all go our own ways tomorrow_

and turned to follow the others as they made their way inside the embassy. She saw Mina giving her an odd look and Jeannie realised she had just carried out the conversation with Jake in canine language. Jeannie wonderd what Mina must be making of all this

* * *

_Jeannie!_

Jake called after her and feeling the rising shame and humiliation grip him, he had never been used to relying on others as for a long time there had just been him, he hobbled towards her. The man who had driven the coach had disappeared and was now replaced wit ha large black wolf.

_You are right, I can't change, please, I need you to bandage the wound and help igor to set the leg so that I can heal it faster._

He looked at the girl with Jeannie and got the strangest feeling that she could understand their conversation, it was slightly unnerving, not to mention the fact that when asking for anything in canine it looked like begging, something he was all too aware of.

* * *

Jeannies expression was one of surprise then it softend. It couldn't be easy for Jake to ask her for help.

Nodding she replied

_of course I'll help_

She called over to Igor who shuffled over to them. He looked at Jakes limp leg

"Ah a thimple broken leg, I have a nithe new one on ithe in the thellar. I can have it fixed up in a jiffy"

Jeannie sighed, you had to admire the skills and enthusiasm of the Igors but give them a chance and they'd replace half your body parts.

"No Igor, just re-setting the bone will be fine thankyou, and then I'll need some clean bandages"

Igor looked slightly dissapointed at nor being able to use his new leg on Jake but it was in the nature of Igors to follow orders

"Yeth Mithreth, pleathe follow me"

Jeannie looked down at the large wolf next to her that was Jake. She was hoping they would get a chance to talk about that note he had sent her but the large black bodyguard didn't seem inclined to let that happen and she had a feeling that bringing it up infront of the guard wasn't a good idea.

They followed Igor inside

* * *

Mina was confused, the coach journey had been a bit strange, though definitely fun! All these new people had joined them though, and she didn't know quite what to make of that. Mina had thought 'I can hear you.' as she was stroking the cat, which also made her a bit puzzled.

The watch-lady helped her out of the coach and started talking to a big wolfy dog. Mina listened to the conversation, it was exciting and about low kings and Assassins, but wondered why the big dog could talk. And why wasn't anyone else noticing?

Mina went up to the watch-lady as they entered a big building, and said  
'Why can that big dog talk Miss Watch-lady?'

At that point Mina heard the dog growl and saw Twilight flatten herself against the wall.  
'Does he know she's a cat?'

* * *

Jeannie was shocked at Minas question, the girl could understand Jake? She rememberd what the wizard had said about Mina having powers, surely not...  
She decided to test her by answering her in canine

_Yes Mina, he knows she's a cat. Can you understand everything he says?_

* * *

'Yes, you were talking to him' Mina answered, she thought it was an odd question. 'How does he know she's a cat? Who was that funny man with yucky stuff on his face? He talked funny.' Mina paused for breath. 'Are we going to see a snarg today? And can we play the onion game??? I like the onion game!'

* * *

Jake lay on the low table and had no illusions about how much this was going to hurt. He had declined Igor's offer of "thomething to thtop the pain of rethetting." He would have loved ot say yes, but he doubted that a dopy and injured wolf would be very reasonable when he felt someone holding him down and someone else 'hurting' his leg. The large guard had entered silently after Jeannie and was watching the scene from a respectful distance.

Jake's heart began to pound as he waited for Igor to finish examining the leg, he knew that it really was going to hurt. Jeannie was trying to pretend that she wasn't holding him down, but it wasn't working and Jake knew it was a good idea, but it merely made the expectation of what was to come worse. The strange little girl stood in the doorway and watched the scene, he was beginning to feel like a project.

_Let's all gather around and stare at the-_

Igor chose that moment to gently but firmly move the leg. Jake felt his entire body convulse and Jeannie was suddenly pressing down hard, he had to keep still, he knew that, unfortunately his body felt strongly about having parts of it fiddled with. It was a shame that Mina could understand canine as the language that filled the room merely sounded like howling and barking to others. Luckily though Jeannie had managed to keep him still and the leg had been jerked back into position, it still needed to be stitched though. Jake began to tremble though and if he had not had black fur, it would be evident how white he had gone.

_I…didn't….feel…a thing._

He said, trying to make a joke, unfortunately the agony of the leg made his voice quaver and it just came out as a stumbling whine.

* * *

Mark leapt down from off the coach with grace, placed his hat on his head and proceeded into the building.

_Suppose I should sort this favour out while I have time_ he thought, far from happy about having to do Downey's dirty work.

He stopped at a plain looking door and slid his hand down one side, pushing, he entered a dark room.

"Good evening gentlemen, I hope you are well. You will be taking over the guards duties during my stay here, you know the drill, so off you go"

To an on-looker, it appeared that Mark was talking to himself. To anyone with night-vision, nine figures exited the room in complete silence.

Mark left the room and continued upstairs. an open window let in the smell of the peppermint bombs that had been released round the building. He closed the window and walked to the office at the end of the corridor.

* * *

On the way to Igors room Jeannie did her best to answer the excited Minas questions

"He can smell that she's a funny man is an Igor, they all talk , I don't think we'll be seeing a snarg today. We'll play the onion game later...."

Once in the room though Mina stood quietly at the door which was probably just aswell.

Jeannie winced at the ferocity of the language that filled the air, and also at the sound of the bone moving back into place

When he tried to speak afterwards she gave a sympathetic smile

_You did well, nearly over now_

Jeannie released her hold on him once Igor had finished the stiches, she picked up the splint Igor had given her and handling Jakes leg as gently as she could, she began to wrap a bandage around it.

* * *

On the way to Igors room Jeannie did her best to answer the excited Minas questions

"He can smell that she's a funny man is an Igor, they all talk , I don't think we'll be seeing a snarg today. We'll play the onion game later...."

Once in the room though Mina stood quietly at the door which was probably just aswell.

Jeannie winced at the ferocity of the language that filled the air, and also at the sound of the bone moving back into place

When he tried to speak afterwards she gave a sympathetic smile

_You did well, nearly over now_

Jeannie released her hold on him once Igor had finished the stiches, she picked up the splint Igor had given her and handling Jakes leg as gently as she could, she began to wrap a bandage around it.

* * *

Broc stood at the door in "im just guarding right now but if you do something stupid i could go to Arm-Removing mode" mode. As he observed the events, several thoughts went through his head. well acuttlly just one.....Why can't he just have one normal case.

"um, Jeannie what are we exactly here for? I know about the box. but why do i feel that everybody else is here for thier own agenda....why are you here?"

* * *

Patrick finally caught up to the group after practically falling off the horse at the front door.

Seeing the state that Jake was in he decided to try to distract Mina a bit.

"Hey Mina, did you have fun on the coach?"

Finding a bench up against the wall he sat and caught his breath.

He was glad to be inside and sitting down.

* * *

Mina tore herself away from the door, where she had been looking on with much interest.

'Yes!' She replied excitedly 'the assassin man taught me the onion game and the cats were silly and that big dog can talk! When are we going to see some snargs? Can you teach me some magic?'

* * *

His body was going through shock, he could feel it, he was cold and hot and sick, but at least he was clear witted, although slightly grouchy and in a great deal of pain. It did mean however that he might be able to shift back tomorrow, maybe late in the day, but it would be good enough.

_Street dogs fight dirty, these guys were by the book, I wasn't expecting that. I'm out of practise._

He said as perhaps some excuse of why he was stupid enough to be ambushed by a pack of werewolves.

_Jeannie, I don't think that they know who I am, for now that is fine by me, I need you as an interpreter though. Can you ask the wizard if he has any magic to perhaps keep this place a little…more defended?_

He stood up, unwilling to put any weight on the leg and jumped down. He landed awkwardly but managed to stagger a little and then correct himself. He mumbled something about the damn splint.

_Uh…Thank you…for the help….I couldn't have done it myself_

* * *

Patrick could see the excitement in her face and chuckled at the thought of little Mina being so well adjusted on her first day away from home.

Tyring to keep up with her he picked her up and sat her down on the bench next to him.

"Well, cats are silly anyway! I once knew a cat that chased its own tail for days trying to catch it! The poor thing almost dug a hole with all that running around and around! As for snargs, we may yet see some. They are kind of shy creatures....sometimes you only catch a quick glimpse as they scurry away. But, maybe soon."

She asked about magic too, that was good. She wanted to learn. But first he'd have to find out what her talent would be. Sometimes that came as a surprise.

"I promise you I will teach you something this very night my dear, but first we have to secure ourselves a place to sleep, a good dinner and someplace to wash up. Being clean is very important for us magical types you know."

He was glad she wasn't there to see Jake being tended to. A bit much for her first day out. She'd have time to learn the dangerous side of adventure soon enough.

"And you say the....nice...assassin man taught you a game? Well, I tell you what; I'll teach you some magic, if you show me the game."

He enjoyed times like this.

* * *

'You need cards!'  
Mina grinned. 'They have funny names! There's the Onion, the wild onion, the flush' here Mina sniggered 'like the toilets they have in big posh houses! Then there's the Bagel, and you can play Cripple Mr Onion or cripple Mr Bagel! Heeheeheeheehee! Aren't they funny names?'

Mina giggled.

'Can you teach me some magic now?'

* * *

Snuffles had been very quiet, because of all the wolfishness around him, grimacing at Twilight every now and then.  
He left the room in which Jake was in and accidentally stumbled into the room Patrick and Mina were in. Well, they were better company than wolves anyway.  
He then saw the carpet. The thick, large, embroidered, _expensive_ carpet and forgot everything that had been bothering him. He lunged at one of its edges and shoved one front and one lower paw under it, so as ti grip it from both sides. He then bit it and started doing a motion with his feet which might just remind you of a giant cat who imagined it was riding a bycicle, but was really half buried under a carpet and gripping it tightly with its front paws and teeth.  
The uselessness of this activity was only enhanced by Snuffles ridiculous size.  
_Whee, this is fun!_

* * *

_Well, let's see what she can do..._

"Okay Mina. We'll see. First, you have to sit very still and try to concentrate on what I'm going to show you."

Patrick figured he would start with something fairly simple; a small floating orb of light.

"I want you to think very hard about a small globe of light, very small, maybe like a single candle flame. Okay? Now rub your hands togther until they start to feel warm."

He could see she was really trying.

"Alright now, close your eyes and imagine the orb floating above your hand. Just floating. It can be any color you like. Just see it floating above your hand."

Her little eyes were scrunched up in deep concentration....

"Okay Mina, take a deep breath. Hold it. Now very slowly exhale....and open your hands.

* * *

AT Brocs question Jeannie kept her face blank and shrugged

"I'm here to help the wizard like Vimes orderd me to"

She thought about the note in her pocket and glanced momentarily at Jake. She wasn't going to bring up the contents of the letter infront of his bodyguard, just in case.

Jeannie nodded grimly when Jake spoke

_By the book? Yeah, they're well trained....we all are_

Her face clouded for a moment, but she composed herself again

_Yes, I'll speak to the wizard, he might be able to do something to help_

Jeannie watched Jake jump awkwardly down off the table. When he thanked her she shook her head and smiled

_No thanks necessary. Lets go find the wizard_

Walking out of the room she wondered what had happened to Mark. An assassin disappearing wasn't unheard of certainly, but Jeannie couldn't help but wonder what he was up to.

* * *

Mark didn't bother knocking on the door. He just opened it and walked in as if he owned the place

"What...Who are you?" asked the man behind the desk

"Good evening Sir, my name is Mark and I am here on Lord Vetinari's orders. No, no, leave your sword on the desk, this won't take long..."

Ten minutes later, Mark left the room, leaving the man a little bewildered. He went off in search of the others to explain what was happening.

_Maybe I should have been a little easier on him_ thought Mark as he walked down the stairs _but it was his own doing and he is still alive although he probably wishes he weren't_

* * *

It didn't take long to find Mina and Patrick. It was obvious that Patrick was trying to teach his new apprentice a trick or two so instead of interrupting Jeannie stood and watched, reflecting on the girls unusual ability to understand the language that her and Jake were using to communicate.

_Maybe the wizard was right, there is something extraordinary about this girl_ Jeannie thought as she watched Mina open her little hands...

* * *

Twilight followed Jeannie out of the room. Her blood went cold with her immense fear of Jake.

_She's one too, ya know,_ said her subconcious as she followed Jeannie. _But, she hasn't given you any reason to fear her yet, so I guess she's okay, for now at least_

Her shoes were very uncomfortable on her feet as she walked. Why humans wore them she couldn't imagine. You could imagine her relief when she finally stopped in the room where Patrick and Mina were. Looking down, Twilight saw Snuffles playing with the carpet.

_Hey, no fair, I have to watch a wolf get mutilated and then fixed up again, and this fuzzball gets a_ carpet

She looked over towards the window where what had been hung but some of those very posh curtains with tassels. Her eyes locked on them an her non-existant tail swished back and forth hypnotically.

_Go ahead, you deserve it_

Thanking her mind, Twilight morphed back into her own feline body, and began batting at the tassels feeling immense amusement as she did so

* * *

Feeling perhaps it was a little ruder than necessary, but his irritation at his injury and the growing concern that he didn't believe the Embassy was as safe as it could be, he snarled.

_Enough!_

He was aiming to break Mina's concentration and get everyone's attention in the room, including that of the stupid cats.

_Jeannie, don't just wait for an invitation ask him, this is not a game, if these guys get in they will kill everyone and those they don't kill will probably shaving a great deal for the rest of their lives._

He barked a command at his bodyguard and with a frustrated air he left the room to inspect other things, quite forgetting that he was leaving his interpreter behind.

* * *

Jeannie felt her anger rising at Jake tones and followed him down the hallway, her face a perfect picture of fury

_Don't you dare try your Lord Uberwald attitude on me! I am not one of your lackys_

This was said with a pointed glare at the bodyguard who gave her a low growl

_And you can shut up aswell!_

She was so angry it didn't even register that she had just said this to what was probably the biggest wolf she had ever back at Jake she continued

_Jake, I am perfectly aware of what they will do if they come here. They are my own family afterall! But I also know how they work and a full on attack will be their last choice, they prefer stealth...like ambushing careless travellers in the woods!_

She knew that would sting his pride, and that's probably why she said it. She had agreed to help him yet he had spoken to her like she was some pup who didn't know what it was they were facing. With one last furious glare at Jake she whirled around, her long hair flying out behind her as she marched back to the room where the others were.

Slamming the door shut behind her she leaned up against the wall with her arms folded. Aware of the silence she looked up at the others who had all stopped what they were doing and were watching her with shocked expressions, even the cats.  
Jeannie looked back at them, trying to look as though having a blazing row in barks and growls was perfectly normal

"What?"

* * *

Patrick helped Mina gain her focus again and then left her to practice for a minute on her own.

"Don't worry. It can't hurt you. If it flies away make another one. I'll be back in a bit."

Approaching Jeannie he could see the frustration clearly on her face.

"What's up? I'm guessing we're still not out of trouble yet?"

He knew that this was Ridcully's fault - even if only in a roundabout way. If they'd just let him go on his own....Then again, he'd probably be out there alone right now, walking next to the damn horse, being stalked by all manner of beatsies.

* * *

"yes, there could still be trouble" Jeannie looked over at Mina who was busy trying to do whatever it was Patrick was teaching her, and lowering her voice explained the situation to Patrick

"The pack that chased us on the way here...they might decide to try and finish things off. The wolf they hurt is a friend of mine, but he is from a family that is sworn enemies of the pack who chased us..."

She sighed, there was no use in hiding the truth. She was assigned to help the wizard, he would find out in the end, besides he must have noticed that she could speak to the wolf that came with them. Grabbing his arm she pulled him to the other side of the room far away from where Minas little ears could hear what she was about to say.

"The pack that chased us were werewolves, and so am I...in fact the pack that chased us is my own family. The wolf that was injured, he thinks that my family might attack the embassy to finish what they started, I think it's unlikely but I can't guarantee that I'm right. I'm going to go outside and see what I can do but is there anything, you know, magical that you could do to help strengthen the defences here? If I run into them outside I _should_ be safe enough as long as none of them saw me with Ja....with the other wolf."

Jeannie was about to walk towards the door when she hesitated

"There's just one other thing, about your apprentice...obviously I can talk to the wolf and I can understand what he says to me...well so can Mina. I even asked her a question in canine and it's as though she didn't even realise I was talking to her in a different language. I've never met a human who can do that."

And with that Jeannie opened the door to leave the room, and the embassy

* * *

Patrick ran to the door to ask Jeannie if she could get the horses secured out of sight.  
"If anything happens to them we may be stuck here longer than needed or wanted. I'll try to do something here, but when you come back you'll have to use this door."

Returning to the room he told the others that it may be a good idea to head to the kitchens. "Now would be a good time for some dinner don't you think?"

There would be more brick in the kithcens and a place to light a fire if needed. And food. If they had to hold up during an attack that may be a good place.

"I'll meet you in the kitchens, yes? Give me just a minute." He was trying to keep his voice even and calm so as not to frighten young Mina.

Walking over to the windows he pulled the shutters closed. Standing in what he figured was the middle of the building, Patrick closed his eyes and concentrated. Slowly, the walls extended over the window and door frames becoming solid.

Leaving the front door available to Jeannie meant also leaving it open to whatever might try to get inside, but there would be other measures.

_Werewolves? Nice. Never really met one before, at least that I know of. Too bad this is going to get messy...._

Patrick allowed himself a smile at the comment from Jeannie. He'd taken a chance with his decision to take on an apprentice, but at least he'd been right.

_Never missed one yet._

He finished securing the entry points and waited for Jeannie to return.

* * *

Mark walked down the corridor and followed the voices. He had to tell them what was going on seeing as their lives were in danger. Well, he didn't HAVE to, but he had honour and it was only polite after all.

"Excuse me Sergeant, Mr Wizard, would you like to follow me please?" said Mark as he spotted them and carried on walking to where Mina was sat playing with her hands and the cats were...playing. Mark saw Broc the zombie not doing anything in particular.

"Now, I'm sure you all know what is out there and arrangements are in place to make sure it stays out there. There are ...um...guards...patrolling the grounds, I wouldn't bother looking, you won't see them. Certain aromatic devices have been released to level the playing field and this place was built to Guild standards so you are all perfectly safe in here. You are of course free to leave if you like, although it'll be the getting back in that you may struggle with."

Mark paced up and down the room for a while.

"It has been brought to my attention that their is a family feud in these parts and while it doesn't concern most of us, we are right in the middle of it. It would seem that our host, the Ambassador, has been playing one family off against the other, much to Lord Vetinari's disappointment and I have been asked to make things right. Or in other words, get us out of the sh...midden."

Mark looked at each of the group and thought to himself _Someone is going to die before this is over and I've a horrible feeling I know who._

* * *

Snuffles immediatley darted for the curtains, he just couldn't resist, even if the moment he saw the grinning Twilight he knew what the outcome would be. He was just too large.  
Thud!  
With a bump on his head, he glared at the other cat.

When the black-clad person started walking through the room acting important, Snuffles interrupted his meaningful glaring activities and watched and listened attentively. He _was_ dressed in black, after all, Snuffles had to respect that.

* * *

Mina, eager to learn, followed the wizard's instructions. As she was rubbing her hands together though, she heard a loud bark sound which startled her. The wizard helped her get started again and told her to practice.  
_A big red flame glob, a big red flame glob!_ thought Mina excitedly.

Mina opened her hands... It didn't work.

So Mina tried again, putting in more concentration this time. Suddenly, after a couple more fruitless tries, a big firey looking blob appeared floating above her hands. Mina squealed excitedly. She moved her hands upwards, the blob moved up-wards too. She moved her hands more quickly, the blob moved more quickly, didn't stop when her hands did and hit the ceiling, where it exploded into lots of shimmery sparks.

'Look! I did magic! I did magic!' cried Mina excitedly running 'round under the falling sparks.

* * *

Broc clapped when Mina did magic.

"Good job Mina! I knew you could do it!"

What Broc didnt know was that one of the sparks from Minas fireball had lit the back of his shirt on fire.

* * *

Jeannie was about to leave the room when Mina started shouting in excitement. Jeannie stopped and also applauded the excited little girl

"Well done!"

Jeannie carried on toward the exit but paused when Mark came into the room. Folding her arms and resting against a table she listened to what he had to say, keeping her face carefully impassive.

She stood silently for a moment, thinking carefully about what to say. Standing up straight she walked slowly across the room.

"As you've said Mark, some of us are more involved with this situation between the families than others. I'm sure you've figured out my own unfortunate involvement in this whole mess, so you'll understand why I have to leave for a while. They may be on their way, or they may not but either way I have to go to them. I have to find out what's going on. I'll try and come back as soon as I can."

Jeannie again made her way towards the door, but turned before walking through it.

"You should all be well protected here. If I come across an attack force I'll do what I can, I should be safe enough and I might be able to convince them to stop…maybe." She shrugged "It's worth a try anyway"

She left the room, and walked towards the way out of the embassy. The wizards fortifications had been pretty effective and this was now the only doorway in or out. Stepping out into the cold night air, her breath forming in clouds infront of her face Jeannie was impressed with the guards Mark had set up around the place. Even with her extremely good vision she had problems locating them.

The stink of the scent bombs was extremely powerful and doing her best not to breath it in Jeannie beckoned Igor instructing him to put the horses somewhere safe Jeannie left the embassy, breathing deeply to get rid of the peppermint smell in her nose and began to move towards the forests

* * *

Leaving the embassy Jeannie made her way quietly away from the building before finding a suitable clump of bushes. Looking around her she pulled off her cape and spread it on the ground. Undressing quickly she placed her other clothes in the cape and made a neat bundle of clothes which she stashed deep inside the bushes to collect on her return.

In the moonlight Jeannie changed, now the silvery light shone on her fur. With her eyes occasionally catching the light and giving off a slightly eerie orange reflection Jeannie searched around the forest surrounding the embassy trying to pick up any sign of attackers. Sensing nothing she proceeded quickly yet silently towards her family's lands being careful to skirt around the Uberwald territory.

Traveling as fast as her powerful lupine body could Jeannie soon arrived at the borders of her family's territory. Anyone who thought they knew Jeannie would have been surprised at the apparent transformation that overcame her as she proceeded through the trees towards her family's home. Her entire poise changed, she radiated aggression and danger and gave the distinct impression that anyone who came near her would not have the option of running away

Her hackles rose her ears flattened and she crouched, there was a dark shape in the bushes ahead.

* * *

Jake paced backwards and forwards, or at least as best he could with one of his legs in a splint. He was furious Jeannie was totally blind to his meaning, her family was a problem, yes, but the people that would attack them here were the people he had mentioned in the note. He didn't know what Jeannie's standing was within her family, but to have an Adalwulf and a Von Uberwald beneath the same roof? They could take two members of the big families out in one go and the rest of their companions would probably be killed just for the fun of it, or perhaps just bitten and entered into the ranks that seemed to be swelling.

The Assassins cocky self-assuredness was not helping his mood either, guards and stink bombs? It would certainly work against the families, but these werewolves? These were fanatics. He snapped and bristled as his bodyguard got to close and now his interpreter had decided to go walk about, there was the girl though. Jake paused in his pacing and thought. Was he over-reacting? What did these people matter to him anyway? Was it Jeannie's friendship then? No, he told himself this was because he didn't want to end up some rug slung over one of these flea bitten wolves shoulders.

Knowing that he was going to tell her how wrong she was, he followed Jeannie's scent to the external door, another problem of course, doors. He could wait for someone to come past or…he looked at the large black wolf and barked an order, there was a pause and the wolf padded of to be replaced by the large man once more who held the door open for Jake. Without waiting for his companion Jake went outside to be struck by the scent of peppermint. It was everywhere, and he was suddenly in a full blown sneezing fit. This was hopeless, her scent was gone and if he howled it would merely bring attention to his own presence at the Embassy

Jake ran upstairs, he had to get Mina she understood him, but he had never been good with kids, even werewolf ones.

_Mina_ he said to her when he reached the room _No one else will listen to me_ he thought that was easier to understand than, "no one can hear me only you." _Please, can you tell the Assassin he's an idiot!_

Of course the Assassin's plan was a good one to protect them all, but it did mean that he was no effectively blind if anyone came close to the place, and then he began sneezing again, the remains of peppermint still in his nose.

* * *

Jeannie stayed crouched with her eyes fixed on the shape infront of her. It was a werewolf, a large one but it wasn't a scent she recognised. All too late she rememberd the note that Jake had sent her, in her anger she had completely forgotten about it

_Of course! He wasn't worried about my family, he was worried about the rogue wolves!_

She cursed herself for being so hotheaded, if only she had asked him what he had meant instead of getting so angry and making assumptions...well no time for that now.

What was the wolf doing in Adalwulf territory? Hearing more noises around her she corrected herself. What were these _wolves_ doing here? The large shape infront of her stood up and walked towards her. Jeannie snarled, but didn't move, she wasn't going to show fear to a rogue wolf

He stood infront of her

_well, what do we have here? Adalwulf I believe, and all alone?...what a shame. We were just on our way to pay a visit to the newcomers at the Embassy but we can make time for you_

His lip curled back and he snarled. Jeannie lunged forward, bit him hard on the leg and ran. The howl went up among the pack as they gave chase. She could have howled and tried to alert her family but it sounded like there were alot of the rogues in the trees and she did not want to lead her family into a slaughter.

She sprinted back the way she came, her muscles pumping through the screaming pain that coursed through her body after a while. Living in the city had slowed her down but now was no time to dwell on that. The adrenaline pumped and she managed to get quite a lead on the pack who were howling and barking as they chased her.

_damn damn damn! Got to get away, got to help the others!_ was all Jeannie could think of as she ran for her life

She knew that she had to slow them down somehow...that was it. She remeberd what she had brought with her, and there were a couple of them in the pockets of the clothes she had hidden. Putting on a burst of speed Jeannie headed towards the bushes where she had hidden her clothes, shifting quickly into human shape Jeannie rifled through her pockets until her hands closed around what she was after. Standing up she hurled the scent bomb straight infront of the advancing pack. The effect was more than she had hoped, they not only stopped but some of them ran away from the scent that was even stinging Jeannies nose. She would give that alchemist a tip if she got back to the city in one piece!

wrapping her cape around her and grabbing the rest of her clothes Jeannie sprinted for the door of the embassy before the pack got itself back together.

She hammerd on the gates

"IT'S SERGEANT JEANNIE!!LET ME IN RIGHT NOW!!THERE'S NOT MUCH TIME!!"

* * *

Patrick was astonished at the way Mina had been able to produce such an orb! He had thought a bit of a spark or a small quick flash would have been more than enough at this point. He was beginning to think he'd have his work cut out for him with this young one. When Jake appeared, Patrick had been worried about the wolf getting so close to Mina, but as he watched, it really did look like the beast was trying to communicate with her.

He was just about to speak when he heard Jeannie's voice outside, somewhat muffled by the solid walls of the embassy.

Raising a hand in the direction of the gates he gave a quick command in the language of the wizards and the gate shot open.

"Everyone! Quickly please! To the kitchens! Broc, please see to Mina - go now!"

Turning away quickly he made his way to the front door. As sson as Jeannie was through, he'd seal it as well. The guards outside would have to be the first line of defense.

* * *

Hammering on the gates Jeannie fell forward slightly when they swung open, but didn't waste time dwelling on how they had managed to open with no-one behind them. Racing through them she slammed them shut and slid every bolt.

Thankfully the door was still open, Jeannie could see the shape of Patrick approaching it. Carefully holding her cape shut around her she hurried through the door and leant against a wall, gasping to get her breath back.

The feel of the magic made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up as Patrick sealed it, when he turned to her she managed to get enough breath to speak

"Pack coming this way...lots of them...not much time"

He nodded and she followed him through the embassy to the kitchens, where apparently everyone had gone. She had managed to catch her breath by the time they got there but was still breathing heavily.

Seeing a spare seat near the warm orange glow of the kitchen fire she gratefull collapsed onto it and let the warmth of the fire sooth her cold aching body. Jeannie looked up at Mark

"Your guards have no chance, there are at least 15 werewolves headed this way. Not from the families, they are rogues...trouble makers."

Her eyes met Jakes for a moment

"You were right, I should have listend to you...sorry"

She stood up, trying to look authoritive despite her semiclad appearance.

"Patrick has done well, the place is well protected but we need to be prepared..."

_and I need to get dressed_

she thought to herself. Excusing herself for a moment she slipped out of the room and returned once again wearing her shirt, trousers and boots. Throwing her cape over the back of the chair she sat back down

* * *

Snuffles walked to the door to see what all the commotion was about. He had heard some distant barking. His first instinct had been to climb somewhere high and sneer, spit and claw at the attackers in a teasing way, but he was large now and, oddly enough, curious.  
He started clawing at the door, while watching Jeannie and Patrick pleadingly.  
A wolf or two shouldnt post a problem, he thought.

* * *

Patrick bolted the door to the kitchen behind him as he and Jeannie entered. Yes there were other people in the Embassy, but he felt personally responsible for this group; the others would have to follow whatever protocol they had.

_The guards are the first line of fact that there are no easily breachable windows or doors anymore is the second line. This room is easily defended, so unless they can tear the building down we should be okay. Mark said this place was built to guild standards - let's hope they killed the architect before he could sell the plans...._

Trying to restore a bit of calm, he approached Mina and Twilight with what he hoped would pass for a smile. Removing his travelling cloak and finding his blanket roll in the bag, he fashioned a small bed on a cot probably used by the house cook; he motioned to them.

"Why don't you use this if you start to feel tired. It's not as comfy as a real bed, but it brings me all sorts of good dreams. Remind me later to tell you about the one with the... "

Seeing Snuffles doing his best to open the door, Patrick thought that out of everyone, the big cat would probably think was a game of sorts.

_Just wants something to play with I bet...._

"Mina. Do you think you could practice that trick I taught you? I think Snuffles needs something to do for a bit."

_Keep everybody occupied with something to do. Helps control the fear. At least that's what I was always told..._

Turning back to the group he suggested a quick cook up on the fire.

"I know we could all use a bite yes? Besides, the fire will deter anything attempting a run down the chimney eh?"

* * *

Jake stared at Jeannie he said nothing, there was nothing that needed to be said, at least she was still alive. Still there were no scents, but the feral werewolves knew that they were in here and the stink bombs stopped them from smelling anything, mind you the large thick walls also stopped the werewolves from getting in, which had to be a good sign.

_This place is a bastion, they're not going to get in tonight, at least not all at once and I doubt they would dare to come in in small groups._

Jake saw snuffles scratch against the door and the idea of opening it and letting the large cat outside against fifteen werewolves was more than a little appealing.

_Perhaps we should let the cat out of the embassy, after all there are only fifteen werewolves, why don't you open the door Jeannie._

* * *

Twilight was sitting next to Mina in the kitchen while the others carried on with their own buisness. Licking her paw and cleaning herself, she glared at Jake.

_I'm insulted,_ she said _I may not get on with him very well, but he's still a cat, and an insult to one cat is an insult to_ all _cats_

She wasn't afraid of talking so haughtily to Jake, though she was still terrified of him. She figured that he wouldn't dare hurt her with so many witnesses around. _Especially_ with a small child present

* * *

Jeannie nodded "Jake's right" then noticed the others giving her odd looks, remembering that they couldn't understand him she elaborated

"He said they can't get in here yet, we should be safe enough tonight, and Patrick I think that hot food sounds like a wonderful idea!"

At Jakes remark about Snuffles she smiled, and was about to say something when she heard Twilight make a noise and glare at Jake. Not being able to speak feline Jeannie asked Mina

"Mina what did she say?"

when Mina translated Jeannie couldn't help but chuckle and turned back to Jake

_Do you realise you've just been told off by a very small cat?_


	3. Chapter 3

Mark looked at the group.

"Jeannie? How many do you think there were? I can pretty much guarantee that it will be a fair fight but I need to know if there will be anymore"

"Mina, do you think you can ask the nice doggy if he can find some friends to help us if I show him a secret way out?"

Mark made a quick check of his weapons and looked from Jeannie to Jake awaiting an answer

* * *

Mina prepared to create another blob. A pink one! Then she heard Jake. She looked at him shocked, horrified, and close to tears. She told the watch-lady what Twilight had said, and then turned towards the big dog.

'That's horrid! You're bad! Bad dog!' She told it firmly. She turned to the Assassin man and told hyim definitively 'It's not a nice dog.' She added crossly 'Ask it yourself 'cos it can talk! And I don't care who knows.. Bad dog...'

Mina went up to Snuffles and dragged him back into the room. 'Stay here! There's bad scary werewolves out there!'

* * *

Jeannie grinned and wagged a finger at Jake in a teasing manner

_Yes Jake, you are a very bad doggy!_

Sitting in her chair by the glowing fire Jeannie looked at the assassin and her smile faded, she was completely serious now.

"Well, there at at _least_ fifteen of them, I'm sure of that because thats how many of them chased me and would have happily ripped me to pieces out there. I'd say it's a safe bet that there are more of them, all they would need to do is call for reinforcements...do you know how far a howl can travel?"

She stood up, folding her arms she walked around the room as she spoke to Mark. Her noble breeding and time as a sergeant meant that she gave off an air that commanded attention

"You think it'll be a fair fight? Have you ever fought a werewolf before? If you have then you'll know that what I'm about to say is true...Just because they may look like wolves some of the time doesn't mean they are not faster, stronger and a hell of a lot more cunning. They are _not_ just animals. They can use either shape, and _will_ use them to their advantage at every opportunity. You and your guards have your silver weapons, and yes that gives you an advantage but against a large pack your guards, no matter how specialised, are frankly dead meat! Or to be more accurate, un-dead meat because this particular pack will be happy once they have bitten you. They are looking to make their numbers grow, and if they happen to take out a couple of members of the noble families while they are at it that only helps their cause!"

Deciding that she had made her point, Jeannie went and stood by Jake

"You can't ask Jake to go out there 's injured. Sending him out there now would mean certain death if they find him, it took everything I had to escape the pack and I don't have a broken leg!"

The large body guard gave a low , Jeannie looked down at the huge wolf, nodded then looked back up at Mark

"And 'Muscles' here agrees with me. I think the best thing we can do tonight is to eat, rest and plan. Patrick has fortified the place extremely well, we should be safe enough for now...But in the morning you can show us this secret way out"

* * *

Mark watched as Jeannie paced the room listening to what she had to say.

"Then it is worse than we feared. My er...guards are, shall we say, specialized in this type of area, silver weapons and tricks is not all they have up their sleeves you know. Now, The reason I ask if Jake would like to leave is because the only other exit out of here will bring him out just two miles from his territory. As a group, we can not move quickly, but if someone were to have a coach waiting it would be of great use"

He looked at the two cats, they were quite clearly not happy about being in here, but Mina seemed to be keeping them occupied. The wizard was proving to be a good ally and seemed friendly enough.

Turning back to Jeannie and Jake, Mark spoke quielty

"I have specialist armour that Snuffles, the wizard and Mina can wear. It may help in the long run, but I don't think it would be a good idea for you two to get near it"

Mark heard a long whine from the other side of the door and then nothing _Thats at least one down then_ and then a thought dawned on him _Maybe I should have got the Ambassador out of his office. Oh well, Vetinari did say he would be fed to the lions...dogs aren't that different_

* * *

When the Assassin and Mina both called him dog the air around him seemed to crystallise with ice and there was no humour in his demeanour. Being an illegitimate child tended to get you nicknamed and dog and mongrel had been used by the less imaginative but no less cruel members of his family. Without realising it Jake could feel his hackles stand on end and he looked very large, he did not growl, but he certainly seemed a great deal….less cute, than before. He also realised that he was finding keeping track of the conversation required far more effort than before, he was certainly able to organise his own thoughts but human speech was getting more difficult to decipher. Jake glared at his guard and at Jeannie.

_Well thank you for making that decision for me, unable as I am to make me own feelings clear_

The thought struck him then, the Assassin had brought werewolf hunters. A profession that had been _discourage_ by the larger families and one that would certainly get you killed. There was no denying they were good at their jobs, but their careers tended to be short and it took a certain type of person to do the job. Usually one of them had some score to settle and the best way to kill a werewolf hunter was to get him angry, angry people were people who made mistakes and when you were fighting an enemy like a werewolf, you couldn't afford that luxury.

_The safer way to call a werewolf family would be to howl, does the Assassin not know this?_

He pointed out to Jeannie

_However, we have a unique problem, we have to werewolves from two different families that have been fighting since time immemorial. We are going to have to…._

He paused as if the mere thought of his next sentence was something he was not looking forward to.

_Get them in the same room and get them to call a truce until this situation is resolved _

* * *

Jeannie listened to Jake. She ignored his complaint at her and the guard, they were simply looking out for him wether he liked it or not.

She shrugged at his next question

_I don't know how much the assassin knows about werewolves_

"Mark, Jake raises a good point. We can summon our families by sending out a howl, but that in itself brings another problem"

_Getting our families to willingly be in the same room will be hard enough, but to also get them to call a truce...you are right of course, but this is going to be very difficult_

Sighing she sat back down on the chair by the fire. She sat staring into the the first time in ages Jeannie thought about her father, if he was still alive then this would be easier. He hadn't been interested in the feud, he would have willingly talked to the barons clan, but her mother...Jeannie had inhereited her stubborness and quick temper from Lady Karina Von Adalwulf. But Jake was right, they had to try and get the families to work together.

Realising she had been sat in silence, Jeannie looked across to Jake

_So how are we going to do this then?_

* * *

Jake looked at her a long while saying nothing

_Well I think that this is one step beyond arse sniffing to make things right. I guess we have to pray that their sense of pride and hatred doesn't completely blind them to the danger of allowing these wolves to go unchecked_

The large black wolf came up alongside Jake it appeared annoyed but what he said to Jake was unclear to all as he kept his gestures small and made sure that he was facing Jake the whole time.

Jake growled at him again, the wolf backed down, but reluctantly. Jake shook his head, he needed to concentrate and the growing hunger in him seemed to be making the wolf more insistent and the urge to nip outside and grab something to eat was getting harder to resist.

_Is there any food in this place, I'm straving_

* * *

"Please forgive me, my knowledge of the area and of your kind is very limited as it's not really a requirement in the Ankh-Morpork. My guards are from the area though so they will have had the necessary training"

"Jeannie, would you go to your family to explain the situation? Maybe Jake's .... assistant can go to his family too?"

Mark took a seat and put his hands over his face and rested his elbow on the table. The day had started off well as far as he could remember and quite quickly turned into something not nice.  
He wished he was on the familiar roof-tops of the city, he always felt better when up high where the air helped him think. There was a way to tell the other assassins to cease their defense of the building and conceal themselves but he couldn't remember what it was.

"If you can call your families to help us though, my guards will not be able to differentiate between the various sides"

* * *

Patrick was at a loss when it came to diplomacy. He was equally unprepared to sort out differences between ancient werewolf families.

So, he focused on gathering suitable food from the pantry and cellar in order to get a good dinner started. Everyone would need their strength in the coming hours or days and at least he could help in that regard.

_If anyone had told me a week ago that I'd be here in the middle of this mess, I would have laughed. No...I lie. I would have started packing earlier!_

Satisfied with the selections, Patrick returned to the kitchen and stoked the fire a bit.

He thought he'd heard a yelp from outside.

_Poor bugger _

* * *

Jeannie had noticed the guard wolfs behaviour. She had a feeling that he didn't like her, which was fine because she didn't much like him either but she was curious as to what had just been said.

She nodded to Mark

"I will fetch my family, but we need to be sure that your guards won't be attacking them aswell as the feral wolves. I'll go tonight, the sooner I get there the sooner I can try and explain this to them..."

Seeing and smelling the food Patrick was preparing she added

"After dinner I'll go, if you would be so kind as to show me this secret exit when I am ready?"

* * *

Mina was the kind of child who listens. The kind who's always interested in what the grown-ups are talking about. Currently she was afraid. Her eyes grew big and scared as she said in the middle of the discussion 'Is the mean dog a were-wolf???'  
Mina didn't have much of an idea what was going on, but this was a piece of information that she had latched on to. The fact that even the grown-ups were scared made her feel unsafe and fearful.  
'Are the were-wolves going to eat us up?'

Mina didn't quite know what to do, so she attempted to hide herself behind Snuffles holding Twilight close as well. At least their soft fur was comforting. Above all she tried to keep as far away as possible from the scary werewolf dog Jake

* * *

Twilight could sense Mina's fear. She couldn't say that she blamed her. Twilight was terrified of werewolves as well.

Normally she wouldn't ever sink so low as to hide behind Snuffles, but Mina was comforting to Twilight and apparently kitty fur comforted Mina, so she'd make an expetion _just once_....twice tops..provided there was someone who'd pet her*

Outside she could hear the yelps and growls of several other wolves.

_I'm good with staying here tonight,_ she said hurriedly. _Uh..y'know, to protect Mina..right, that's it_ She tried to disguise her terrified shaking at the sound of a few more growls and crouched down in Mina's lap

*Twilight was a housecat down to the pads of her paws

* * *

At the sound of little Minas voice Jeannie closed her eyes and sighed. How could she have forgotten the child was listening? The sight of the frightened little girl trying to hide behind the cat was truly heartrending. Jeannie approached her and crouched down

"Mina, it's ok! he's not a bad wolf. He can be a bit grumpy sometimes but I promise you _he will not hurt you!_. Really, I promise!"

At the second question Jeannie hung her head for a moment, before looking Mina straight in the eye

"The bad werewolves are _not_ going to eat you! Mark...I mean, the nice Assassin man...has special armour you can wear that will stop any bad werewolves. It will burn them if they touch it. But I'm going to go out and get help, we can make the bad wolves go away. All you have to do is stay here, and Patrick will keep you safe"

Jeannie shot Patrick a look that said _you better keep her safe! That's what you promised me back in the city!_

She couldn't wait any longer. The noises from outside were getting more frequent and seeing poor little Mina so frightened was the final straw, Jeannie would just have to hope she had enough reserves left to do this after no food or rest.

"Mark, I'm going to go and change. When I come back I want you to show me this exit. I'll do what I can when I get back to my family's home"

And with that Jeannie dissapeared into the scullery. When she returned she was walking on all four paws, the firelight reflected off her deep golden fur and made the white patches look even more distinct.

The first thing she did was look at Mina

_Mina, it's ok. I'm still Jeannie. I'm a good werewolf just like Jake. You look after Twilight and I'll be back soon with help_

She walked to the door to show Mark she was ready to leave

* * *

"No Mina, the werewolves are our friends, really. Jake and Jeannie are going to make sure we're safe."

Patrick knew that he, Mark and Broc would be instrumental in their safety as well, but Mina needed to be reassured that werewolves were not the enemy.

As he knelt down next to the trio of Mina, Snuffles and Twilight he could hear the sounds from outside and figured his words would mean little if he couldn't keep them occupied.

"I am very proud of you Mina! That orb you made earlier was brilliant! You might just be stronger than I thought. So, I guess it's time I gave you your very own pouch of magic, yes?"

Reaching into his bag he pulled a small multi-colored pouch from a pocket and a bright red stone from another. Putting the stone in the bag he closed the top and handed it to the girl.

"That is your first artifact my dear. It is a stone from Ecalpon, my home. It is a land of magical people and beasts. Keep this with you at all times and nothing, not even a wolf can do you harm! I promise!"

Standing now, he turned to Jeannie, "I made a promise and I will keep it. I wish I had something for you on your journey but I have a feeling you will not be needing any help from me."

"Mark, I will be fine here with the others. Show Jeannie what she needs to know. I'll keep watch."

Turning to the rest he motioned for them to eat the dinner he had prepared. Patrick made a plate each for Jake and his companion. Setting them down he offered a smile as if to show that he knew they were accustomed to better surroundings.

Mina, still clutching Twilight, and Snuffles were seated at the table and provided with their own plates and drink.

"Now then. Who would like to hear about the time my mother turned me into a rather large mouse?"

* * *

Jake stood in the kitchen and his human mind panicked, he hadn't remembered coming into the kitchen or it had seemed a good idea at the time. Shaking his head he moved towards Jeannie's scent.

_Jeannie, don't be stupid_

The growling probably sounded a great deal more aggressive than it actually was to those who didn't understand it.

_You can't go out there on an empty stomach, especially after you've just been running, or have you already forgotten the frantic run for your life back to the Embassy?_

Then, Jeannie leaving didn't seem so important and the smell of food dorve him away. It was only when he was standing over a haunch of meat he had managed to pull down fro from a hook in the cold house off of the kitchen that he remembered Jeannie leaving, somehow though it didn't seem as important as tearing the haunch to pieces and devouring it

* * *

Twilight's head instinctively shot up at the sounds of Patrick's voice and she looked around excitedly.

_Iheardmouse, Iheardmouse, where'ditgo where'ditgo?_

When her brain managed to comprehend the first bit of Patrick's sentence Twilight's face took on an expression of annoyed disappointed.

_Meannie...._

* * *

Snuffles had settled down, seeing that nothing was going on, but was very pleased when offered a seat at the table. He had some problems with handling the fork, but used his claws instead.  
He had no idea of what was going on, so he ignored rivalries for once and poked Twilight.  
'Meow?' _Whats happen?_  
He rearranged his tail and waited for an answer

* * *

Twilight turned to Snuffles.

_Oh, not much, just a group of who-knows-what trying to kill everybody, another group of people trying to stop them, and evidently a huge fight which will probaly end in much pain and suffering. Pretty much a typical day in Ankh-Morpork_

* * *

Jeannie followed Mark to a room not far from the kitchen. She watched him approach the far wall, he must have done something that she had missed because the wall swung open, Jeannie could smell the stuffy air in the tunnel . Once the secret passage was open she made her way into it.

She growled and whined softly as she padded along it, wolves were not at home underground. The sounds of the fight got much closer at one point and Jeannie guessed that she must have passed right underneath it.

The tunnel was longer than she had anticipated but that could only be a good thing as it meant she would emerge further away from the feral wolves. At last she reached the end of the tunnel, but there was a problem. It was sealed. After a few minutes of examination Jeannie changed back to human shape, and pulled the large solid door open, slipping outside she pulled it shut and was impressed at how the bushes around it hid the door almost completely among the rocks in which it was set. Shivering in the freezing night air she wasted no time in changing back to her lupine form.

Sniffing the air for any danger Jeannie cautiously yet swiftly headed for her home territory. She paced herself, all too aware that she was doing this after no rest or food to aid her strength.

She had been travelling for a while and wasn't far from entering her families lands when a howl went up behind her.

_Oh great, here we go again!_

* * *

Mark re-entered the room with a pack. He approached Mina and took out a dull metallic cuirass.

"Here you go Miss Mina, put this on and you will be safe from the bad doggies outside. It may be a little heavy at first, but you'll get used to it"

He passed another to Patrick and then handed the pack to Snuffles, giving him a curious look at the same time.

"Jake, when you enter the passage, take a left at the end and it will put you more or less inside your families lands. I must warn you though that there is a chance the handle is made of silver"

* * *

Mina was a little reassured by what the the watch-lady said, but was startled when a big white and golden dog came in a few moments after the lady had left speaking to Mina in her voice. Mina's first instinct was to hide further behind the cats, but as she listened to what the were-wolf had to say, she straightened up again, reassured.  
_So the dog Jeannie's the watch lady?_

Mina perked up completely as the wizard started talking to her. _pouch of magic? Wow! _  
Mina looked on entranced at the pretty red stone  
'Will it really keep me safe?' she asked, after a short pause she added 'but don't you need it?' Mina wasn't used to people giving her things just like that.

Mina was feeling less frightened and more relaxed now, the appearance of food had aided this greatly.  
Me me me me me!' shouted Mina excitedly as the wizard asked who would like to hear his story.  
She then giggled at Twilight's reaction.

Just then, the Assassin came in to offer them some armour. Mina chose to be enthusiastic, not realising the implications of danger 'M'gonna be like a soldier!' She then looked round dismayed 'Doesn't Twi'ight get one?'

* * *

In the forests Jeannie sprinted through the trees. She let out a howl as she ran, hoping her family would hear it in time. There were four large wolves chasing her, too many for her to fight by herself.

The lack of food and rest was becoming apparent now, it was getting hard to keep ahead of her pursuers. She let out another howl, and managed to get a burst of speed through sheer adrenaline

She could hear the breath of the wolves behind her and was about to let out another desperate howl but while leaping over a fallen tree she landed badly. She skidded on her side and even finding the energy to get back up was hard but she got up and faced the pursuing wolves. If she was going to die, she would go down fighting

Her lips curled back, she let loose a vicious snarl. Ready to face her fate she was about to leap for the throat of the lead wolf when there was a blood curdling howl right behind her and several dark shapes leapt past biting and snarling at the attacking wolves. Panting hard Jeannie gratefully sank down onto the ground as her family tore into the feral wolves

The fight that ensued didn't last long, one of the rogue wolves managed to run away but the other three wouldn't be running anywhere ever again. Jeannie admittedly took great pleasure at the sight of their blood seeping into the leaf litter, even the amazing healing powers of the werewolf couldn't help them now. They had been taken to pieces

Still panting Jeannie stood back up. There was a hurried conversation of barks, growls and body language and the pack set off for the family castle with Jeannie running in the middle of them

* * *

Snuffles took the ... armor out of the sack and inspected it curiously. He failed to put it on correctly, even after studying the way Mina did it, but after lots of incredibly false starts he managed to slip into it in a way which at least seemed to be fairly proper. If you consider wearing armor being proper behaviour for a giant cat, that is.  
He shifted uncomfortably, and discovered with great dismay that moving about would be more difficult now, but hey, the black-clad man gave it to him. And he wouldnt know how to take it off anyway, even if he wanted to...

* * *

Patrick accepted the armor from Mark without question and was resigned to putting it on later under his robes.

He wasn't a complete fool, he knew nothing about this area, the fight going on outside or how they'd get out of here in one piece if things went badly.

"Oh Mina, ofcourse that stone will keep you safe! It is a rare item. My mother gave that to me when I was not much older than you are now, and I can tell you it works. Keep it close."

He was about to begin the tale he had promised as they started to eat, but heard the concern in her voice for Twilight.

"I bet Twilight will be most safe in my bag for just a little while. If we must leave in a hurry, give her to me and I'll make sure she stays warm and safe. And you stay close as well."

Settling down to his own plate, Patrick took a quick glance at Snuffles and wondered just what the....cat must be making of all this.

_Gets along okay I imagine. _

"Mina, let your friends know that we'll be alright. This is but a mere distraction on our way to adventure! Now, as I said, my dear mother - being the witch that she is - turned me into a mouse one day! You can only imagine my surprise when I woke up.....

He continued the story, watching the group eat their fill and enjoyed the company.

_I hope she's alright out there....._

* * *

Travelling with some of her family members Jeannie had eventually arrived at her family's home. Unlike a lot of castles in Uberwald this one had been maintained, and still used its defenses. The signal was given to open the gates and the pack padded through into the torch lit courtyard.

Jeannie broke away from the pack and headed inside. She had to find her mother, there was no time to waste

* * *

Broc stalked Jeannie. Something was wrong with Broc. Ever since he left Ankh-Morpork and little voice had said not to trust anybody. Broc tried to chase it off but it just got louder. Broc watched Jeannie walk into the house. But being so focused on Jeannie Broc hadnt noticed the Werewolf sneek up behind him. The Werewolf (in human forum.) slammed Broc against the wall and smiled a verrrrrrry touthey smile. Then the werewolf hesitated. Usually when he smiled the victem cringed and whimpered, They didnt smile and say

"Id like to introduce you to Rob and Bob.....my Fists"

They tumbled around a bit then Broc finnaly got a handhold and threw the wolf through a wall into the building that Jeannie walked into

* * *

Jake's stomach felt stretched, he had indeed gorged himself and all that was left of the haunch was a few bones. He yawned, revealing a mouth full of implements that had just been put to the use nature had intended. Jake was sleepy, it always happened after he had eaten, but at least he could think more clearly now. Wandering back into the kitchen he looked around and his fur seemed to stand on end. The place seemed to be full of silver. So they had peppermint bombs, they had werewolf hunters and they were putting on silver armour? They were doing all of this and then getting Jeannine and him to call two of the most powerful werewolf families in the area to the Embassy? Jake and Jeannie would be labelled traitors or worse one family would think it was a trap from the other and have it out then and there. Turning Jake saw that the large black wolf had assumed the demeanour that Jake had come to assume with bad things happening. Jake needed to talk to the group and he couldn't do it through Mina, it would take too long. A long growling match appeared to ensue between the two wolves before the black wolf left and the large man, who seemed to dominate a room, stood before them all. He did not clear his throat or attempt to get their attention he merely started speaking.

"I will translate directly."

Jake began speaking in canine, the bodyguard watching him and translating through the growls. His voice was low and strangely calm which was at odds with the frantic growls and barking.

"You have werewolf hunter guards outside, you have dropped stink bombs and you have put on silver armour and all of this right before you get Jeannie to go and get her family. Jeannie is now leading a werewolf clan into the Embassy and they will be greeted by all this. At the very least you lose their trust and I doubt we can hope for the very least."

* * *

The room was large, and not sparsely decorated. Most of the furniture looked unused with the exception of the soft leather couches that were positioned in front of the huge fire place. A fire was blazing away in there now and Jeannie sat on one of the couches staring into the flames.

She had eaten and been given a dress to wear as she had changed back to her human shape. She would need all her wits to talk her mother into working with the Uberwalds so she had chosen the form that provided clear thinking.

Jeannie fidgeted and pulled at the dress, the colour was nice, a deep iridescent blue. Admittedly it did look nice on her but it was still a dress. Jeannie had never been one for skirts or frills but the castle was cold and there was such a thing as modesty so she had begrudgingly accepted the dress for now.

A voice from behind made her jump slightly, her mother had always been able to move in almost complete silence.

"Well well Selphina, to what do we own the pleasure of this visit?"

Jeannie stood up and turned to face her mother as Lady Karina Von Adawulf walked across the room towards the fireplace

"It's _Jeannie_ Mother!"

"Yes yes, it is most tiresome how you insist on refusing your birthname. Some would find it disrespectful "

Jeannie folded her arms and shrugged. It was a sensitive subject and now was not the time for an arguement

"I'm not here to talk about that, why didn't you contact me about the rogue wolves?"

This time it was her mother who shrugged as she stopped besides the fire place

"It's not something that concerned you, after all you have chosen a life in the city have you not? I'm curious though how you found out about these mongrels?"

Jeannie met her mothers stare "A friend told me"

"A friend? Who knows our business?"

"Yes"

"I see. You obviously have something on your mind Selphina..."

"It's _Jeannie!_"

"...so why don't you just come straight out with whatever it is?"

Well, it was the reason Jeannie had come here. She sat down, looked her mother straight in the eye and began to explain....

* * *

Patrick did his best to appear calm and centered in front of the child and the others.

"Sir please, you have to understand, there are innocents here that have no quarrel with either of the families involved. I'm sure that there is nothing to fear from the child or her companions.  
As for myself, I am simply hoping to pass through and be on my way. I pose no immediate danger."

He didn't want to sound like he was trying to distance himself from anyone, but the truth was that he had no intention of becoming involved in this if he could help it. The University had given him a mission and he had taken an apprentice; the others were here through manipulation by Ridcully or other doings...

"The situation may not look favorable but I'm sure that once the trouble outside has been contained or at the very least deterred, the guards will no longer be a visible or threatening presence, the bombs can be cleared away and I will restore the Embassy to its former appearance. You have to remember that we were attacked first. We did not seek out trouble....

Patrick stopped there. He could feel his old ways returning and knew he was out of his league here. Back home it would be a different story, but not now. Besides, he didn't need to tell them, it would be whoever came that would need the reassurances.

_I'm going to have to stick with what I know I can get away with. I could probably level this place if I concentrated hard enough, but that wouldn't do anyone any good now would it?_

* * *

The atmosphere in the castle was colder than mid-winter in the deepest forests. Lady Karina had a glare that could have frozen molten rock and she was aiming it at Jeannie right now.

"So what you are saying is you want us to go and save a handful of humans from the rogue wolves, in a place that is surrounded by werewolf hunters who may or may not start firing at us when we arrive and you want us to work with the _Uberwalds_ to do this?!"

Jeannie shrugged and nodded "In a nutshell…yes."

"What makes you think there is any possibility of this actually happening?"

Now Jeannie stood up, and glared back.

"Because otherwise the feral werewolves are going to succeed! They will keep adding to their numbers and will finally become too many for us to beat. We need to fight back now, before this whole situation gets any worse and Uberwald falls to the mongrels!"

Lady Karina threw her hands up in the air as she walked around in front of the fire

"Unbelievable…my own daughter wants me to form a _truce_ with the very family we have hated and despised for generations!"

Jeannie stood with her arms folded, "While we are on the subject do you have any idea _why_ we hate and despise the Uberwalds…or is it just because we can't remember things ever being any different?"

Lady Karina shook a furious finger at her daughter "Don't you dare! Don't you dare come in here and start questioning your family!"

Jeannie marched up close to her mother, standing face to face "If you wish me not to question you then make the right decision for once! My father would have!"

And with that last sentence hanging in the air Jeannie turned and swept out of the room. This would have looked slightly more impressive if she hadn't stumbled on the hem of the cursed dress on her way out

* * *

The large man looked at Patrick

"I am merely repeating what I am being told, these aren't by words."

Jake had gone very quiet it was clear he was thinking very hard, finally he looked at the large man who spoke again.

"You are right, you are caught in them idle of a fight that is not your own. The reason you are in danger is because I an Jeannie are here. If I leave, perhaps the werewolves outside will as well. However the werewolves know that you are here now and may try and…convert you to their way of thinking, it is really impossible to tell with these werewolves they have no allegiances save to themselves, but I will leave and see if it will help."

Jake continued speak and the large man turned to the assassin.

"Show us the way out and we will use it."

* * *

"I am with Patrick on this" Said Mark, "We have not come looking for trouble, it found us. The guards I have at my disposal are permanently stationed here, they are equally at home with vampire hunting too. I can assure you that there is no trap that I know of, in fact if you like, the Ambassador may still be alive and you are quite welcome to talk to him about his politcial games involving the two families"

Mark looked at the large man _There's nothing I can say to assure you so you'll just have to believe me_ "I asked Jake to be my guide here in Uberwald and as a result, I am sworn to protect him until my mission is complete and this will go for anyone that is involved with helping me"

Mark motioned to the others with his hat, then the unbelievable, dropped 2 silver daggers into the fire to try and assure the large man and Jake that he had no intention of using them.

_I only have a few of those left now, I really hope we don't need them_

* * *

In the Adalwulf castle Jeannie stood in one of the bedrooms and looked out over the landscape. She had opened the window, the breeze caught her hair and the smells of the world outside wafted in. She was angry… angry at her stubborn mother, angry at the feral wolves, angry at the wizards and their stupid box and angry that she had had to come back home. She had been happy in the city, but now she was stuck back here in the middle of all this and the worst part was that she couldn't walk away. This was her problem, and she also couldn't leave Jake and the others in the middle of all this

A knock at the door made her turn, her brother entered the room and carefully shut the door behind him. From the way he held himself Jeannie could see that he was still sore after the coach had hit him. She resisted the urge to poke him in the ribs, and instead simply asked

"What do you want Varick?"

Wincing he sat on the bed holding his ribs. He looked at her with a grin

"You've made her angry you know. You are so very good at getting under Mother's skin"

Jeannie walked away from the window, the stupid dress threatening to trip her at every step "She's so stubborn! She lets her temper rule her. She's impossible to deal with!"

A sound made her whirl round and glare at Varick who was chuckling but in obvious pain at every movement.  
"What's so funny?" Jeannie demanded. Shaking his head and with the odd chuckle still escaping him he looked at her

"Nothing nothing, she just reminds me of someone else that's all" He replied with a pointed look at Jeannie. She tried to fire back a haughty reply "I am not…well not as much as…oh shut up Varick!" Now Jeannie did poke him in the ribs, and grinned at the resulting yelp

She sat down on the bed next to him "What _did_ you want or have you just come here to taunt me?"

Now her brother looked serious and lowered his voice. "Erik told me about the ferals who chased you…and I eavesdropped on your conversation with Mother. Even if she won't agree to it, there are a lot of us who will come with you. These mongrels need to be stopped Jeannie."

Wincing at the movement Varick stood up to leave

"Anyway, you have the support of most of us even if she continues to refuse. I'm heir to the estate so I'm sure I can talk with the Uberwalds in her stead."

Stunned at Varicks proposal Jeannie nodded "Um…thanks." Recovering her composure slightly she straightened herself up and her voice gained more authority " If you will please round up everyone who will help in the courtyard I'll have another go at talking to _her_"

Jeannie left the room with a determined air and went again to seek her mother

* * *

The night was still young. They had a long way to go before it would safe for them to leave, so Patrick figured it may be a good idea to get young Mina to rest for a bit.

He ushered her over to the basin so that she could wash up for the night and returned to his bag to fetch aother blanket.

Looking at the two cats he was sure they'd keep her company during the night; laying the blanket on the floor next to Mina's cot he spoke up.

_We'll get some rest and be ready for a new day tomorrow! Proper adventure awaits us. I may be persuaded to teach you some more magic. But first it is bed-time._

He threw another log on the fire and stoked it a bit.

Turning to Mark and the other man he spoke quietly. "I don't think it would be in our best interests to split up at this point. I wouldn't want anyone killed in the middle of the night due to some...mishap. Mark, I believe our two friends here can rest in safety for a while, besides, we all need the rest and Jeannie will have enough on her hands as it is. I'll keep watch here over the little ones. If anything happens I suggest you all come back to this room. I can shield us for a bit, but there is a limit to my range."

As he turned, he grabbed the armor from its place by the table and laid it across the top of his bag.

Finished with the clearing up, Patrick sat at one end of the table and began to write in a small journal he'd produced from somewhere in his robes

* * *

Mina had had a busy and eventful day, and currently she was a little over-excited. Having been inturrupted from her game of 'soldjas!' She started playing 'Boats!' in the basin, splashing water everywhere. Suddenly the piece of soap that had been the 'Good-people boat' went skidding out of her handand Mina leapt after it with a squeal of excitement, splashing the big cat-man and Twilight on the way.

Noticing their displeasure, she flicked some more water at them giggling amusedly, and ran back to the basin.  
*_Splash!_*  
'Wheeee! Zooom...dof! Heeheehee!'  
*_Splash! Splash!_*  
'Heeheehee! dof...boom! Bad boat!'  
Here the soap dropped out of Mina's hand into the water leaving lots of bubbles on the surface.  
'Oooooh! Bubbles!'  
Mina grabbed some of the foam and threw it up, she laughed as it landed on and around her.  
'Look snow-bubbles! It's snowing! Isn'it pretty Twi'ight?'

Mina looked round to see the wizard looking up at her from his book.  
'M'not tired' she said slightly sulkily, and went back to the serious business of making bubbles stifling a yawn

* * *

Jeannie found her mother in one of the rooms overlooking the courtyard. She was standing at the window looking down at the growing numbers of Adalwulfs who were gathering below. Before Jeannie could say anything her mother spoke but carried on staring down at the courtyard

"So, it would appear it is decided for me"

Jeannie just stood in silence, she knew her mother and knew what was about to come. Sure enough after a moment her mother turned around and glared at her

"You come back from your city life and make this ridiculous request…yet the others choose to follow you! You have undermined me Selphina!"

Jeannie bit her tongue, her mother was persisting in using that name because she knew why Jeannie didn't. She refused to give her mother the satisfaction of showing the anger that was welling inside of her.

Striding across the room Karina cursed and swore and berated Jeannie for bringing 'this foolish notion of a truce' upon the family. Finally Jeannie had heard enough and raised her own voice to be heard above her mothers tirade

"If you are quite finished?! Your attitude is frankly small minded! Your own petty hatred is blinding you to the big picture. You pride our family for its strength? Then let it be strong! Let us make a truce with those who can help us defeat this threat. If you refuse then you are sentencing the proud name of the Adalwulfs to death because there is not enough of us to quash the rogues and Uberwald _will_ fall to the feral wolves!"

It was a speech that Jeannie knew would strike at her mothers heart. Family strength and pride was the key to Lady Karina. Seeing her mother at a loss for words Jeannie silently turned and left the room, giving her mother time to dwell on what had just been said

* * *

Snuffles sat with the most impassive face a cat has ever had in the istorz of the discworld in midst of a never-ending shower of bubbles.  
Some had even gotten into his eyes.  
He raised his paw to put it firmly and authoritatively on to Mina's head, but she did seem to have so much fun (why did he even care, he wondered?) and he settled for another course of action instead.  
Snuffles picked up Twilight with both paws (no thumbs!) and hurled her into the bathtub

* * *

Patrick could only smile to himself as Mina made a bit of a mess. He hoped she would be able to learn as much as he thought she could.

_I don't think I was ever that age...._

She'd sleep soon enough. He'd be able to sleep eventually. His mind kept wandering as he wrote, trying to make sense out of this whole day.

_Rincewind gets, buys, steals, is given - whatever, a box. A small, almost unremarkable box. He or should I say, they, decide that this thing is so dangerous it must be disposed of immediately. Why? What is it?_

He hadn't the slightest idea. He did know why he'd been sent though, it took awhile, but he figured it out. Patrick had never been accepted at the University. He was there to abide by the wishes of the community, but he didn't belong there. And they knew it. The first chance they got to get rid of him and they took it.

_And the bastards had to involve half the city while they were at it._

Watching the soap bubbles slowly take over the kitchen, his mind began to wander again.....

* * *

Twilight rather enjoyed soapy bubbles.._not_ soapy water.

Almost knocking the basin over, Twilight leaped onto Snuffle's head and started clawing and scratching at him, hissing and spitting. Everytime he reached up to grab her, she bit his paws. Eventually she slid down his back and bit his tail hard, latching on so that any attempts to shake her off would fail. She was pissed and intended to take it out to the full extent

* * *

Mark had escorted Jake and his guard to the secret exit with his warnings of a possible silver handle on the door to their territory.

Mark watched the cats fighting. He had to chuckle to himself at the thought of a small cat like Twilight ferociously attacking something of the size of Snuffles.

"I'm going to get some sleep, Patrick, feel free to wake me later and I'll take over on watch" said Mark walking over to a camp bed he had set up.

Mark fell asleep wondering if Broc ever slept and how he thought a troll or a golem would be very useful about now to walk the grounds helping his guards

* * *

The passage was dark and wreaked of Jeannie's passage as well as dirt and damp. The sounds of the circling feral wolves was muffled, but it was there and Jake realised that even with the large black wolf bringing up the rear, he was feeling vulnerable. Fighting fit he wouldn't stand a chance but perhaps he could run faster for look, but with an injured leg? He just hoped that one of the gods was dicing badly tonight. It boded well for him though, the handle on both sides was indeed made of silver, but the door had been left slightly ajar, doubtless Jeannie had reckoned that the concealed entrance would be difficult to find and it was far easier to get in and out in wolf form without having to burn your mouth on silver.

Jake started off as fast as he could with one of his back legs in a splint. The damn Adalwulf had been clever, a hind leg was a pushing leg, one you launched yourself forward with, to take one of those out would be to lower the risk of a spring attack. Jeannie's family were such a pain in, well at this moment, the back leg. He was grateful that the Uberwald family territories were not too far away, but decided that to slow down would merely be tempting fate. It happened eventually though, he knew it would, he couldn't spend the time discussing his trail. The howl went up, it sounded strangely irritated, but it was far behind and there wasn't a great distance to go before the Uberwald lands, for some reason, they seemed to be a continent away.

Jake forced himself to keep a fast but sustainable pace, despite his wolf mind screaming at him to run. To run would be foolish, with three legs he might lose his balance and there probably wouldn't be enough time to fall and regain his footing. The rogue wolves were moving fast, he imagined them close behind them, well he hoped it was his imagination. A form loomed up before him and he swerved in an attempt to avoid it nearly over-balancing, but it was just a clump of undergrowth. Berating himself he continued with his pace, focusing on the destination and ignoring as much as possible.

Crossing the invisible, but strong scent barrier was like crossing desperately sought finish line. Jake felt his entire body ease of tension that he had not realised had accumulated as he ran. Three wolves, doubtless relations, but he was too distracted to notice moved to greet him and make sure he was not an intruder. Once they were satisfied they placed themselves wordlessly at the border in case any dared cross. Continuing at a slower pace he made his way to the castle and through the flap in the large door to enter. Shaking the snow that had fallen from the trees he padded over to the ever blazing fire and allowed it to warm him, waiting for his father. There was no need to announce himself he knew that his father would have already heard of his arrival. His bodyguard had disappeared and had obviously disappeared to report what had happened

* * *

Jeannie sat on the stone steps that led down to the torch lit courtyard. The air was still and becoming colder as the night drew on. Shivering she folded her arms around herself, and carried on watching Varick organising the relatives from the various branches of the family who had heeded this most unusual plea for help.

She found her thoughts drifting, and wondered if Jake had made it back to his own family alive. She was sure that huge bodyguard would have seen to it that he did, but she worried non the less. Apart from her concern for Jakes safety this whole effort would have been for nothing if only one family got the message. Also hoping that Mina, Patrick and Mark were holding out well in the Embassy Jeannie resigned herself to having to carry out her part in this without even knowing if the others were doing theirs or even if they were still alive.

_well, no point in dwelling on the maybes. Time to get this lot organised_

Jeannie slipped back inside, glad to be getting rid of the damn dress and returned to the steps in her wolf form. She barked to get the attention of the sleek powerful shapes gathered in front of her...

* * *

Something bad was happening to Broc and he didnt know what. Stumbling around the village he realized he couldnt see well at all anymore.

"Whats happening to me!"

Broc began to panic. Suddenly a serring pain ripped through his head. Broc fell to his knees and grabbed his head, letting out a scream that sounded throughout the town

* * *

Snuffles might be a giant cat, but he was still a cat. He reached down behind him, pulled the tail up, extended a paw to catch Twilight, who was already in mid-jump, and grabbed her. He then held her very firmly in both his paws, taking care not to let any free limbs, and did the one thing cats hated the most (or he did, at least).  
He put Twilight in a sack, so that only her head poked out, and that he might hold her in just one paw. With the other one he would softly, but rapidly tap on Twilights nose until she opened her mouth and let out a short sneeze.  
He then put her down and patted her teasingly on the head before she could get out of the sack

* * *

"Alright everyone, time for bed now. Come and settle down. Mina...cats...lets go."

Patrick herded the bunch over to the makeshift beds and began packing up his belongings. He looked at the armor again and decided to put it in the bag. It was almost depressing to look at, it spoke of needing it later on and he didn't entirely like that idea.

Turning down the lamps and banking the fire he looked towards a large chair in the corner by the door.

He couldn't hear anything from outside but was sure the danger was still there. He wouldn't know until Jeannie or Jake returned. Sitting in the chair he put his feet up and decided to wait

* * *

Finally managing to find her way out of the wretched bag, Twilight followed Mina over to her makeshift bed, and glared at Snuffles.

_You're going to pay for that,_ she said to him _I may have chosen to live as a housecat, but I come from a long line of bloodthirsty alleycats, I_ know _how to get revenge_

Turning away from the giant black cat, Twilight decided to wait until Mina was asleep before she'd settle down herself. It was something her mother had always done when Twilight was a kitten

* * *

Mina was extremely tired, but she didn't want to admit it, she had had an exciting adventure of a day and she didn't want it to end now. She reacted like any other child who had been too excited just before bed.  
'I'm not tired!' She wailed, crying from fatigue 'I don't wanna go to bed!!! I wanna play bubbles'n'soldjas'n'see snaaaaaaargs! I wannaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!' She sobbed, and the noise started up again. 'Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!'

A tantrum was now underway. Mina was crying and wailing in earnest

* * *

"I know Mina, it's been a long day. But, I promise you'll have a chance to play soldiers soon enough. Maybe even tomorrow morning. And, I know for a fact that there are snargs where we're going as well."

Seeing Mina cry really tugged at him, but she was going to have to endure a lot more than just not wanting to go to bed. If she did grow up to be a witch she'd see and go through worse....

"I have an idea. I'll tell you a story about the very first time my grandfather came upon a snarg, but you have to lie down here and keep Twilight company. Sometimes kitties are frightened by snargs. Can you do that for me?"

Patrick retrieved his book and looked for the right page. He knew that Mina was probably missing home right now, it being her first night away with strange...er, different people, but he hoped a good story might help her to sleep. He didn't know what the next few hours would bring and wanted everyone to be as ready as they could be.

Sitting on the side of the bed, Patrick began reading from the book.

He wasn't certain, but he thought there was more activity outside. Something was different.

"This story was written many years before I was born, before even my father was born-

He continued reading not really paying attenion to the words on the pages so much as he was trying to listen...

* * *

Dozens of lupine eyes watched Jeannie as she made her way down the cold stone steps and walked over to the huge double gates that led to the forest outside. Turning to face them, she stood and looked around at the gathering of Adalwulfs. She was about to speak when a voice rang out from the castle doorway

_This shall not happen!_

Jeannie sighed at the sight of her mother who, in wolf shape, slunk down the steps and through the crowd towards Jeannie. Her markings were similar to Jeannies, and they shared the same golden coloured fur but the most distinct feature on Lady Karina was the white strip that ran down her back.

As she approached Jeannie tensed ready for the expected argument, but Karina turned to face the family members and repeated

_This will not happen…without me to lead our pack and to seal the truce with the Uberwalds!_

She turned to her daughter briefly

_You are right Selphina, we shall do this and stop Uberwald from falling to the rebels_

Jeannie was nothing short of shocked, if she has been human shaped her mouth would have been a perfect O. She shook herself, stood beside her mother and addressed the others

_We go now to the embassy. The rogues are trying to breech it. If they succeed not only will they attack the humans who are inside but Ankh Morpork will see it as a declaration of war. Now this is what we are going to do……._

…a few moment later dozens of dark wolf shapes left through the gates of the castle and began to run through the trees making their way towards the Embassy

* * *

Jake could never figure out how he managed it but his father seemed to be able to move completely silently so that even Jake's wolf ears could not detect him until he was close. Vorick Nicholi Von Uberwald was an impressive man, not in the sense that he was well muscled or dominating, but there was a sense of tightly restrained danger about him. He moved like a predator in whatever form he was in and he made you want to submit just by standing silently and watching you. His gaze was unflinching and bore into anyone, as though he were examining your soul and deciding whether you were worth his effort. Jake stood and nodded and noticed his bodyguard standing in the background .

_You were attacked by an Adalwulf pack_

It was not a question, but a statement of fact. Jake closed his eyes, how was he going to convince his father, if only he had some clue as to what the man was thinking about.

_It was my fault, I was foolish and if I had not been so pre-occupied I would have noticed the wolves_

_Indeed_ was all his father said.

Moving to the couch he sat and watched Jake standing before him.

_You realise an attack on you is an attack against the Von Uberwalds and it will not be ignored-_

_Father no, let it pass this time, a situation has arisen at the Embassy and-_

His father raised an eyebrow and it was enough to silence him.

_I am aware of the situation at the embassy as well as the crisis that faces us with the feral wolves. The wolves at the embassy are only a small group and I do not believe that their leader is there. I also understand that you have made friends with a Von Adalwulf, for the moment I will let it pass, having an ally within our enemy's camp could prove to be useful.[i]_

Jake said nothing, the idea of taking advantage of Jeannie was repugnant but that was a problem for another time. The room fell quiet, save for the strangely cheerful crackling of logs and the soft padding of a number of unseen relatives who had come to watch the scene.

We need a truce with the Von Adalwulf pack.

He had not wished to say it, but he knew it had to be said sooner or later and it seemed that his father was not going to bring it up.

_Do we?_

The question was ask in mock incredulity. Despite his survival instinct, Jake continued.

_The number of feral wolves is rising, the Von Uberwalds will not be able to take them down alone and if we do nothing then both families will eventually be taken down and the feral wolves will be unchecked, we need this truce_

Jake had never been sure how this conversation would have gone, but in none of the scenarios he had envisioned did this silent and calm conversation take place, but he should have known that his father would not get angry, mind you, it was hard to say, he didn't smell angry at least.

_I know_

Jake prepared to protest but his brain finally processed his father's response. Jake's surprise must have registered on his face as his father continued.

_I am not a fool….Jake….Working with the Von Adalwulfs is more than disgusting and the mere notion of it reviles me, but, for now, the enemy of my enemy is….well someone not to fight against. However, it is not my place to announce a formal truce with the Von Adalwulfs, that is for the Baron to decide and I doubt that he will agree to do so. However I am sure that we can send a small group of family back with you to help deal with this problem at the embassy and discuss longer term solutions later I suspect though, that the Von Adalwulf family will have to be satisfied with an informal truce as rickety as that might be._

Yet another shock from his father, he had expected to beg, whine and plead with him to do this, but then his father had always been good at Thud and this was a logic solution. Vorick stood and moved towards the bottom of the stairs and turned back to Jake.

_Take fifteen wolves, one for each of the group there, once the fight is over they will not remain, but return to the castle. I will accompany you_

It felt good to be running with some of his family. It felt like a long time since so many of them had run together. Of course there were regular hunts, but with people away from the castle they were never large groups. The only thing that could make this perfect was if he did not have a damn splint attached to his leg and he felt a stab of anger towards the wolf who had done cost him the use of it for the night. It did not take them long to get near the embassy, the wind was in their favour and the scent of the feral wolves were brought to them. Jake felt a rough nudge from his father.

_You will not fight tonight, your leg makes you a liability to the safety of the pack as we cannot watch to make sure you are okay._

Jake bristled with injured pride as he looked at his father.

_I did not ask to be looked after in the fight I-_

A sharp growl from his father silenced him

_This is not up for discussion you will return within the embassy and wait._

Jake stood still unable to believe what his father was saying and realised that his anger at the wolf who had done this had turned to rage. He went though, it was never a good idea to disobey Vorick. The tunnel was easy to find, now that he knew what he was looking for and when he entered the embassy he was greeted by a darkened interior. He moved towards the kitchen and smelt the octarine surrounding it. Hid desire for a drink was strong, but the octarine barrier made him cautious. Anger at having to miss the fight and frustration that he couldn't just go into the kitchen and use his human form to get a drink expressed themselves as a low growl and he began to bark. It was further demeaning but he needed the wizard to undo whatever e had done.

* * *

Patrick had just got Mina to settle down when the bark could be heard just outside the door.

Figuring that it was either Jeannie or Jake, he immdiately got up and moved to the door, lowerng the defenses as he went.

"Yes, yes, come in, before you wake them."

Unable to communicate directly with the wolf, Patrick simply stepped back and allowed him free movement in the kitchen.

_Well, one's back. I wonder how this is going to play out?_

* * *

The wind brought the scent of the feral wolves to the pack as Jeannie and her family ran towards the embassy. She had chosen fifteen of the strongest to fight against the feral pack. The others had their own instructions should they hear the signal, but for now were guarding the Adalwulf lands. The way Jeannie had twice encountered the feral wolves inside Adalwulf territory had unsettled them and would not be allowed to happen again.

The sounds of the fight came to them clear on the night air and the pack, headed by Jeannie and her mother charged towards the scene of the skirmish. They made no sound apart from that of the paws on the ground and the panting as they ran. The embassy soon came into view, she could see there was hardly any guards left and although there were one or two werewolf bodies outside the walls the fight was obviously not going well for the 'specialists' that were guarding the place.

Now Jeannie let out a howl, the signal to the pack around her to attack. The sight of the large powerful werewolves snarling and ripping into the feral pack must have been enough to stop the remaining guards as no more fire was coming from the embassy

Jeannie let out a deep growl and leapt at the closest of the feral wolves, she let her human mind take a back seat and the wolf part of her growled, bit and savaged. During it all she was vaguely aware of the arrival of another pack. Her wolf mind threw up a name to match the scent

_Uberwalds!_

Jake had obviously managed to get home safely, and the Uberwalds ignored the Adalwulfs and went straight for the feral pack. Even in her blood intoxicated state Jeannie recognised the signs of a reluctant truce and turned her attentions back to the fight

* * *

Vorick led his pack into the fray, trying to ignore the waft of the Von Adalwulfs, at least they had managed to keep from degenerating into a civil war with the feral wolves caught in the middle. The feral wolves fought like maniacs, they had nothing but their lives to lose and they were not going to let those go easily. The other wolves were trained and used to their forms though, many of the feral wolves had been unhappy with the way things were in Uberwald and had agreed to be bitten to try and do something about it.

Vorick was suddenly knocked to one side by a blond streak that stopped and turned to stare at him. Vorick's eyes gave no hint of annoyance or anger, they simply locked and held the blond wolf's eyes. Vorick knew the scent it was the scent that was all around Jake's splint, it was the Von Adalwulf the boy had befriended. Vorick grunted at her and turned to attack another feral.

The fighting continued, there seemed to be few casualties, there were wounds of course and nasty bites, but it was the feral wolves that seemed to take the brunt of it all, confined as they were between the two families.

Jake looked at the wizard and moved into the kitchen, his expression, was easily decipherable as one of annoyance. How was he supposed to tell him that he needed a drink?

* * *

She should have known it would happen eventually but when his scent hit her and their eyes locked Jeannie was completely unprepared for coming face to face with Jakes father. She held his gaze as calmly as she could but when he turned away and a feral wolf leapt at Jeannie, the feral creature didn't stand a chance as Jeannie channelled all her rage into her attack.

There was a reason that Jakes father had this effect on her but the truce, however temporary, had to stand for now and she knew that. Even the wolf that was Jeannie, full of blood lust was painfully aware of it.

A few minutes later and the fight was slowing now, most of the ferals had been taken care of, only a handful remained and they were already being finished off by werewolves from both the families. This fight had been won, the families had taken care of this small group of feral werewolves.

Jeannie licked her wounds, none of them were particularly life threatening but a couple of them were deep and very painful. Standing up she made her way to the place where the tunnel entrance was concealed, limping occasionally due to a large gash on her shoulder. It was painful to walk but it was just a flesh wound and would heal quickly enough.

The tunnel was full of Jakes scent as she followed it back inside the embassy, and Jeannie wasn't surprised to find him already in the kitchen. She looked around. Everyone seemed safe and well.

Relieved, she looked at Jake

_it's over out there….for now_

* * *

The fight did not take much longer, a few of the feral wolves ran but they were chased down and once the place had been cleared the Von Uberwald werewolves turned and like smoke, vanished. Vorick and Jake's body guard moved into the embassy and finding a private spot changed. Vorick's attire was simple and loose fitting but still managing to appear elegant. He spared another looked at the wolf that was Jeannie and then to the Patrick who was standing in the doorway.

"I am Vorick Nicholi Von Uberwald, I believe your pest problem has been taken care of."

Jake looked at Jeannie as she approached

_I should have been out there, I'd have given your brother a leg to remember me by damnit._

When his father had entered he realised that the Von Adalwulf representative would not be far behind. It seemed that family matters were really going to merge with his Ankh-Morpork life

* * *

Mark turned to Vorick and bowed his head.  
"Sir, I thank you for aiding us. My name is Mark and I am a representative of Lord Vetinari. I have been asked to assist with the problem in these parts.  
Mark went on to reveal how the Ambassador had been playing the two families off against each other and was believed to be working for the leader of the Ferals.  
"I left him upstairs and he is probably still alive. I thought that between the two family leaders, you may get more questions answered"

Mark bowed his head once more and left the room to check on his guards

* * *

"We are safe?"

Patrick did his best to remain calm. At first there had been just a couple of werewolves, now there were a couple dozen.

"I am grateful to you..all. My name is Patrick, I am from Ecalpon."

The fact that he was a wizard didn't come into it.

Looking around at the group he decided to continue as best he could. "If you have any badly injured I'm sure Igor is still around somewhere. And if I can be of any service, please let me know."

* * *

Jeannie could guess how frustrating it must have been for Jake to have been unable to help out there. She looked at him as she walked past

_I have a feeling there will be more fights, your leg will heal soon and you can have lots of fun ripping the enemy to pieces …_

She was about to point out that if she can stay in control around his father then Jake ought to be able to do the same over a simple broken leg but became all too aware of Vorick close to them and instead went into the scullery where she had left her clothes before she had left the embassy.

The cloth of her shirt was sore against her wounds but it was of little consequence. The wounds would heal soon enough and she had been through worse. Now human shaped and fully clothed Jeannie stepped back out into the kitchen as the same time as her mother and brother entered. They must have found somewhere to change because they were both in their human shapes also. Karina looked around the room, the way she stood gave off the air that this was all a tiresome chore that must be dealt with.

"I am Lady Karina Emilie Von Adalwulf, this is my son Varick and over there is my daughter Jeannie"

Another astonishing event had occured, Karina had actually used Jeannies preffered name. Once everyone had been introduced with icily polite formality and Mark had informed them of the Ambassadors part in all this, Jeannie spoke up in the angry silence that followed

"I would suggest moving to a more comfortable room to hold any discussions, then perhaps we should invite the Ambassador to join us later? I for one would like to hear what part he has played in all this."

* * *

Mark had wandered the grounds and had found a few guards. He had even managed to find their heads but wasn't sure which one went with which body. It wasn't a nice job as some of them had to be put out of their misery, but let him know that they were honoured that it was him doing it rather than what would happen if they were left with the lupine curse.

Mark entered the Embassy and informed Lady Karina of what had happened.

"I suggest the study, it is by far the most comfortable room here and Igor may already have a fire going"

With a bow of his head and a sweep of his cloak he left to find the Ambassador. It didn't take long, he ran straight into Mark and dropped several silver artifacts.

"I'm sure Lord Vetinari can wait a little while for your report Ambassador. Would you care to accompany me to the study where it will my pleasure to introduce you to a few friends of mine" Mark spoke in a tone that suggested refusal would not be a good thing

* * *

Snuffles just couldn't get rid of the damn armour and he couldn't possibly go to sleep like this.  
He settled with walking around the mansion, he felt uneasy and moved on all fours, whitout noticing.  
If he would've had some basic knowledge of everyday life on the Discworld, he might just have noticed the most queer thing which has arisen in the history of the Disc. Outside of a window there was a man, selling .... _books_ ! If one might have had a handy binocular at ones disposal, one might have read the title: It's all our fault really. The cover showed a group of ... characters, for none of them was human, except a wizard who looked awfully much like a young lady. The Author was: A Holy Man.  
Snuffles stopped at another window , on the opposite side of the house, and watched the fight outside.... This was definitley different from Ankh-Morpork... How can they have a street fight without cats??? Unfortunatley, he couldn't find a way out. Besides, there _were_ lots of wolves outside...  
When the fight was over, he washed his head, just about the only part of his bofy entirely free of armor. Hygiene was important for cats*.  
He accidentally walked into the study and immediatley noted the wolves. He hissed loudly and darted for one of them, realising in mid-run that the important thing about 'them' was that they _were_ a 'they'. He couldn't stop now, but ran into the other end of the room and back, knocking over some stuff on his way and slowly decellerating so that he finally came to a full stop in the place he started from.

*in the last time he had refrained from washing certain parts of his body. In the last time he felt a strong urge to look for an Almanack, whatever that was, with those characteristic multifunctional and soft pages

* * *

Twilight was cringing when all of the werewolves had entered the room. Even in their human form they presented a greater threat to Twilight than Jake, who still had a mending leg.

Sheer curiosity and the fact that she didn't want to be alone at night in a strange place in a dark room with a dozing child drove Twilight to follow them into the study. Pausing before she left the room, she decided to change into her human form. With a room full of wolves, looking cute and furry wan't exactly going to be the best course of action.

She got to the study just in time to see Snuffles' little display. Standing next to him, she gave a polite cough to break the awkward silence that Snuffles had brought and also almost as if for Twilight to point out very clearly that _he_ was the cat..not her..right

* * *

Broc rolled on the ground groaning and moaning. Only a cat saw this and half way through it commited suicide.

When Broc stopped he had _changed_ He was taller, had a lot more muscle, but the biggest change was that his eyes were now a dark red. Broc headded off to where everyone else was.

When Broc walked into the room with all the wolves (taking the door frame with him.) several events.

One was one of the wolves on instinct lept and was swatted away.  
Two, everyone noticed his eyes.  
and three, everyone noticed he had no pants on.

*imagine that he looks like the Hulk

* * *

In the kitchen Jeannie smiled at the sight of Mina deep in sleep, probably dreaming of snargs and jam doughnuts. She looked up at Patrick

"Quite a busy first day for your young apprentice. I feel I must apologise for this digression in our mission, please rest assured we will resume our task as soon as this business is resolved…but I can't leave until it is. If you wish to continue on your way without me I understand"

The study was indeed a comfortable room. The walls were panelled with wood, there was a thick carpet on the floor and the centrepiece was a huge fireplace in which a fire blazed and crackled making the room pleasantly warm. There were a number of soft padded leather chairs and Jeannie chose one near to the fire. After the running and the fight it felt good to rest in the soft seat and let the heat warm her

She sat and waited for everyone to enter the room, Snuffles caused a bit of a stir when he circled the room wearing silver armour. Jeannie turned to Twilight

"Would you mind taking that armour off the cat please? It's not exactly helping the atmosphere in here"

Looking around Jeannie realised that she was probably one of the first people in a long time to witness members of the Von Uberwalds and the Von Adalwulfs actually sitting together in the same room and not trying to kill each other. That was an achievement in itself regardless of what the outcome of this meeting would be

* * *

Patrick knew he was not needed in the discussion that was about to take place and so remained in the kitchen.

He thought about what Jeannie had said but realized that it would be no use. What happened here tonight would get back to Vetinari and Vimes. There were always eyes. If he left now with Mina in tow Ridcully would end up finding out and that could spell trouble.

He'd thought more about that and had come to a couple of conclusions. Either Ridcully was truly worried about the box and wanted to make sure everyone was safe and that's why he asked for an escort, or, he suspected that at some point Patrick would decide to keep the box for his own uses and the University would not allow that.

It was possible that the Watch had been given a dirty task indeed.

Settling back down into the chair, he rested and almost fell asleep before remembering his promise. Placing one hand on the wall next to him, he closed his eyes. Slowly, very slowly, the walls of the Embassy returned to their former state.

Finally drained, the wizard slept

* * *

Standing by the fire in the study, Vorick looked at the Assassin. The large black wolf dropped down by his leaders feet, also allowing the flames to warm his side.

"Ah Ankh-Morpork, how unusual that your city meddles in our affairs."

His voice was quiet and unhurried and he seemed to radiate authority and a self-assured knowledge that he in fact owned the room, but it was not arrogance merely a quiet certainty.

"Igor!"

"Yeth mather"

Igor said, entering the room carrying a tray, Vorick did not even look at the servant, but was confident in the knowledge that he already had what he required.

"Please put the refreshments on the table, I have a feeling tonight can only get longer."

As the Von Adalwulfs entered, Vorick closed his eyes, centring himself for a distasteful but all too necessary evil. Indeed, he was about to speak when a giant cat wearing a silver vest ran into the room, ran towards him and almost as quickly ran away from him and out of the room. Twilight entered then and Vorick turned a cold and steady gaze on her. Many werewolves had normal eyes, but Vorick, his were always amber, always the eyes of a wolf and he trained them on Twilight. There was no hatred, not malicious intent, merely a cold and clinical examination of her as if weighing her, pound by pound.

Jake stood in the darkness of the kitchen, the idea of going into the study was not appealing in the least. He trusted Jeannie, but the idea of being in a room with a wolf that had wounded his leg so deeply was one that Jake did not relish. Of course this posed a very real problem. He could not communicate with anyone except Jeannie who was in the study and mina, who was, at the moment, asleep. Finally deciding he had no other choice he grabbed a bowl between his teeth and moved over to the dosing wizard. He jumped, so that his front to paws were on the wizards lap and he continued to hold the bowl in his teeth and tried to convey using his expression alone that a drink of water would be fantastic right about now, he didn't know if it came out right though.

Vorick's gaze was dragged from Twilight as a huge hulking figure came into the room. The large black wolf by the fire stood, but Vorick made no move and indeed, barely seemed to register that anything had changed, it seemed that he merely took this as yet another inconvenience

* * *

Jeannie looked at the huge figure who had entered the study, was that…Broc? She had no idea what had happened to him but…or wait, maybe she did have some idea.

Excusing herself she managed to get past Broc and hurried back to the kitchen, she saw Patrick asleep on the chair and wasted no time in walking over to him and shaking him until he woke up.

"Sorry Patrick but this is important."

Giving Patrick time to wake up a little before she told him why he had been so rudely awakened, Jeannie looked down into the eyes of a rather annoyed looking Jake who was holding a bowl in his mouth. Trying not to grin at the scene of a powerful werewolf having to try and beg for a drink Jeannie took the bowl and filled it from the kitchen pump. Putting it down on the stone floor for Jake to drink from Jeannie went back to the rather bewildered looking wizard

"Something strange has happened to Broc. In fact a few strange things seem to have happened to him since your little piece of magical chaos back at the watch house. This box of yours, exactly what does it do? Could it, for example, turn a zombie into a hulking great creature with red eyes?"

She gestured in the direction of the study

" I really think you should come and look at this, maybe you can stick it…him…whatever in a magical bubble or something until we work out what in hells names has happened to Broc?"

* * *

Patrick was still half alseep when he tried to answer Jeannie.

"Um, thing is....I don't know what the box does..or is. I only had it for few hours before I was thrown out to deal with it. I'm not even sure Rincewind knows what it can do."

Thinking back, Patrick remembered the incident and rubbed his hand in memory.

"It wasn't the box. I had a cat attached to one hand....But I did have it in the bag with the box for a time."

Seeing Broc for the first time since the seige, Patrick was stopped in his tracks. He'd never seen anything like this. He was at a loss.

"I can hold him yes, but not for too long I fear. We must find out what happened to him for me to be able to be more effective. I can explain later."

He closed his eyes and sat on the floor, pressing his hands to the wood and stone that made up the foundation.

Quicker than even he had expected, the floor grew around Broc, forming a cell that gave him only a minimum amount of movement. The wood grew not as floor planks but as the trees, the thing the wood remembered being. Stone shot up, hot and liquid as it had been born so long ago. Cooling, it formed the outer structure acting as a brace for the trees. The entire cell stretched from floor to ceiling, it had become a part of the Embassy itself.

The action startled some in the room, but he did his best to calm everyone.

_Well, so much for not telling everyone...._

"That will hold for now. But in that position he won't be able to sit or rest if he wanted to. I had to make it that way though to contain him. Keeping him in there will be cruel. Any idea what happened?"

* * *

Broc screamed with rage, and started beating his fists against the cell wall.

"BROC SMASH!!!"

The Rage was stronger now that he was in the embassy. The voice in his head was no screaming in his head 'KILL THEM ALL!'  
He let out another roar that cracked or shattered windows

* * *

"Erm, I don't think he's happy Patrick, do you think it was a good idea?" asked Mark taking a step back.

Mark looked at the two family leaders, "Lord Varick, Lady Karina, would you like to take the Ambassador somewhere more...private?" Mark didn't know what was about to happen but getting what was probably the only source of information to sort out the feral problem away from here was all he could think of at the moment

* * *

Jeannie rubbed her face with her hands, today was going from bad to worse to completely and utterly terrible. When Broc roared Jeannie clapped her hands over her sensitive ears but was still left with a ringing sound for a few moments afterwards.

She looked at Patrick, not wanting to say too much about being in possession of a strange and probably dangerous magical box given the present company in the study but she was becoming increasingly suspicious that was the cause of this bizarre transformation.

Satisfied that Broc couldn't escape form the makeshift prison, Jeannie turned to address the werewolves. When she looked at Jakes father what she wanted to say was

_Stop looking at me in that creepy non-reactive way you murderous bastard!_

But what she actually managed to restrain herself enough to say was

"Your Lordship, Mother…Please excuse me while I attend to this matter" and beckoning for Patrick and Mark to follow her she went back to the kitchen without offering any further explanation to the party of representatives in the study. She sat on one of the chairs at the end of the kitchen table and began to think out loud whilst watching the flames dance in the hearth.

"There's strange things going on, and we just happen to be carrying a magical artefact…but nothing happened when Patrick was carrying it before we got to the watch house. Then Patrick let loose some magic and Snuffles changed from a normal cat into an extremely big cat who seems to be trying to act as a human…Snuffles was in the bag with the box for a while. Broc became alive again, then died …again. Now he's turned into some sort of creature…It _has_ to be the box, it's too much of a coincidence for it to be otherwise."

Jeannie looked up from the fire

"Has anyone else noticed anything odd? Anything at all?"

* * *

After thinking about it for a second Patrick had to admit that the reasoning was sound.

"I suppose it could be the box. After all, I've never seen anything like it and don't know the first thing about how it is supposed to work or what it was meant to do originally."

He was getting a little angry now, to think that Ridcully or Rincewind or any of them would do this knowing the dangers.

"They had to know. They had to. Look, I'm all for trying to figure this out, but if it is active then we'll never get any relief. What if we just moved it out of the area first and see what happens?"

Patrick hoped it might be a question of proximity as was the case with many artifacts.

"If it's safe to go outside...no, how about the tunnel? Maybe we could just take it out that way for a moment and see if the effects wear off."

If it wasn't that, he could try to stifle the magic coming from the box itself, but that was dangerous. He'd have to sample some of the energy to understand what he needed to do. But once he did that.........

"Has anyone heard of anything like this in old legends or fairy tales? Do the families keep records? Maybe...If this can change Broc, it might be able to change others too. I mean, there has to a first for everything right?"

* * *

Snuffles let out a scared 'meow' in the absence of any other course of action. He had stood stock-still as the wolves went and the huge rock appeared and was captured by the floor. Snuffles felt a strong ugre to climb a book-case, but after reasoning that he was, too, standing on the floor and had done it for most of his life, and this was the first time this happened, he settled with standing where he was.  
Maybe it would be best to move over there, into the shadows. He did so.  
Too bad he wore the silver armour

* * *

"I'm afraid I don't remember much of fairy tales from my childhood. I do have vague recollections of a group of dwarves kidnapping a princess and poisoning her with apples, although I'm not sure if it was a fairy tale or from a history lesson at school"

When Mark said school, it had different connotations than what most people thought. Most schools didn't have lessons in poisons or the correct way to use a garotte.

Mark proceeded to the secret door and opened it. It was then that he realised that the Ambassador had probably never entered the kitchens and if he had, he certainly hadn't been told about the passageway.

_The ferals could have gotten in here_ thought Mark, _and then we wouldn't have had to worry about this box_

* * *

Jeannie nodded at Patrick's first suggestion

"Well, if we are going to be travelling with this thing then we need to try and learn a few things about it I suppose. Unfortunately trial and error seems the only option. Lets try the first method then, and see if its effect changes when it is further away."

Jeannie realised that this would mean one of them taking the box outside, normally she would volunteer but having hers and Jakes families in the same room just up the corridor made her wary of going too far away from the building…just in case the truce didn't hold as well as it was seeming to.

So she took what was, for her, the unusual step of asking for a volunteer to take the box outside. The room was quiet as she waited for anyone to speak up

* * *

Twilight was suddenly all too aware that she was alone in the study with two werewolf familes..Well, Broc and Snuffles were there too, but Broc was too busy being a raging monster at the moment and she doubted that Snuffles would be of much help, and the one who appeared to be Jake's father kept _staring_ at her.

Looking over she saw Snuffles unsuccessfully trying to hide in the shadows due to the silver armour. Sidling over to him, she began to help him get the armour off.

_Listen,_ she said to him in feline, _I could easily leave you here to sit in a room full of werewolves wearing something that could make them want to destroy you all the more when you take it off, but that would be betraying another cat, so I'm taking it off now before you unnerve them anymore....Besides, you look very stupid sitting in the shadows and shimmering_

She removed the last of the armour and tossed it into the corner of the room, away from the two families

* * *

"Well, I have no problem with doing it. I have sworn to act as a protector until we return to Ankh-Morpork and if that involves carrying a box down a tunnel, then that's fine by me"

Mark motioned to take the box from Patrick and begin his cautious first steps into the dim tunnel

* * *

Mina was awakened by the noise and rose to find herself all alone. At first she thought that she had been left behind, but then she realised that there was noise coming from the room next door, she tip-toed up to it and peeked round to investigate. Twilihgt was helping cat-man take the armour off, there were strange people in the room talking, and one very strange person who looked like the zombie that Charlie had stolen the arm off trapped in a tree-bubble and screaming.  
Curious, Mina went into the room, she looked around for a bit, and then went up to the tree-bubble and said.  
'Are you the zomber? Are you trapped?'

* * *

Broc was beating against the cell walls still when Mina spoke to him. Broc turned and prepared to go on the attack when a small whisper in his head penatrated the yealling 'kill them all'. It said 'Jessica'.

Broc nodded and put his hand on the wall (gently for once i might add). The angry voice was dying down in Brocs head. He rumbled one word. He said in a almost child like voice. or at least as childlike a ten foot hulking monster can get.

"Jessica?"

* * *

Patrick just about choked as he caught a glimpse of Mina walking into the room with...them.

Hurrying to see what was going on, he stopped short of grabbing her when he saw the effect she had on Broc.

_She just has no fear at all...._

Standing there for a second with his hands held tightly together, he waited to see what would happen next.

_Mark should be outside by now. If that's all it takes, I'll be happy._

Seeing some of the faces in the room turn in their direction, Patrick realized that they might not be the most popular people in the place right now.

He watched as Broc calmed and sagged slightly at the mention of the name Jessica.

_Who's -_

* * *

Vorick appeared to be unruffled by the events unfolding around him, he did not even change the position he had adopted before the fire. After the giant cat had been wrestled by the _woman_ trying to help it out of its silver clothing and the creature had been cowed Vorick spoke in the cool voice, quite unperturbed by what was taking place in the room and said to those present.

"It is evident that Ankh-Morpork's representatives are otherwise engaged, perhaps these talks would be better postponed until they have regained control of their menagerie."

Jake drank deeply ignoring the events in the next room, all that he was concerned about was the cooling effect the water seemed to be having on his dry throat. That was of course, until the noise next door seemed to die away and he heard his father's voice. Jake cringed at the choice of words, this might turn out to be a much shorter night than anyone had intended

* * *

Jeannie watched apprehensively as Mark took the box and walked with it down the tunnel. Once he had gone out of sight she turned and made her way back to the study, already hearing a change in Brocs tones, she had wondered of it was an effect of the box going further away then Jeannie saw Mina talking to him.

_Jessica? Who's-_

Her thought was cut off by the voice of Vorick, it grated on her nerves like claws on a blackboard. Jeannie bristled, but set her face into a carefully impassive expression before turning around to look him in the eye. She replied just before her mother could, which was probably just as well if they wanted this to actually work out.

"I see no reason why the activities of the Ankh Morpork team should have any bearing on your ability to hold a discussion with Lady Karina. Now I feel that perhaps we should get these discussions underway"

Jeannie could see Patrick was keeping a careful eye on Mina and the Broc-creature so she decided that her attention should indeed turn back to the situation in hand with the werewolves

She walked over to the fire place and chose a seat. Sitting down with her arms resting on the sides of the chair she crossed one leg over the other and looked back at Vorick

"The fact that you are here, as is Lady Karina suggests that the idea of a truce, however temporary, is one that is being entertained by both sides. However Lord Vorick , please do correct me if I'm wrong but surely the Baron should be the representative for the Von Uberwalds as head of the family? I'm doubtful of your authority to agree to this course of action. In which case can we be sure that this truce will hold for the duration it is needed?"

Jeannie knew she was probably being blunt to the point of rudeness, but she really didn't care. Being in the same room as Vorick made her feel sick to the stomach and she wanted this discussion concluded as soon as possible

* * *

Mark walked at a slow pace down the tunnel. The torch lights flickering somehow added to the atmosphere which he really wasn't enjoying.

_I'm a fully trained assassin, why all of a sudden am I afraid of the dark?_ He asked himself. It was completely irrational. He held the box a little further away from him just in case.

After 5 minutes he figured he was about halfway down the tunnel. He wondered if any effects had gone away back at the Embassy.  
Pausing by a torch, he looked around.  
That was odd.  
He looked at his feet.

_Oookaayy...this is definitely not normal_ he thought and headed back to the Embassy to try and show someone what had happened

* * *

Broc began to calm down. the angry voice was gone now. Broc slowly transformed back into his self. He lay on the floor now. Sobbing. When he finally got a hold of himself he stood up and nodded to Patrick.

"You- You can let me out now."

* * *

Jake entered the study, he didn't want to but through some sense of family duty he did. As soon as he entered he felt the tension and knew that Jeannie's brother was watching him limp in. However, for Jeannie's sake he did not even react and merely moved towards the fire as un-obtrusively as possible. It was no good though as Vorick did not continue until Jake had entered.

"Miss Saraphina." Vorick said smoothly "This is a truce of necessity and agreeing it as quickly as possible is, I would have thought, more important than who it is that you speak to. The Baron will not see you, I will and so you may speak to me or both families can walk away and see how well each fairs."

His voice was cold and held a tone of finality in it. He had displayed no emotion since entering the embassy, he'd probably be a real pain to play poker with,.

"No Von Uberwald wolf will knowingly attack a Von Adalwulf while we deem the feral wolves a threat. The Von Adalwulf family will still be prohibited from entering our territories un-accompanied and any attack upon a Von Uberwald wolf during the truce will render any agreements void."

Jake's heart was in his mouth and he seemed to be having great difficulty trying to swallow it again

* * *

_That had to be it!_

Seeing Broc return to his 'normal' self, Patrick understood that the box had an effect in proximity. It would make it difficult to transport the blasted thing, but at least it could be better managed.

"Mina, take a few steps back okay?"

It wasn't that he didn't truct Broc, it was more to do with having to do more magic in a room full of testy werewolves. He wanted her close if any of them tried anything..unwise.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please excuse me for the interruption."

As the cage of tree and stone returned to its more current state of floorboard and foundation he noted that once again certain faces turned in his direction.

"Mina, grab me that blanket from the kitchen please? We need to get Mr Broc to a comfortable place for a while."

Looking the zombie in the face he asked very simply, "Do have any idea what happened? Were you aware?"

Trying to think of all the possibilites, he ran through the combinations;

_Works on emotion, works on fear, anger? No. Amplifies primal desires...does it work on just one person at a time? What if an army had this box? What if it is just a part of a greater device..._

His mind raced with the ideas

* * *

"Not much just lots of anger. Then Mina showed up and she made me remember- remember Jessica."

Broc looked around the room at all the werewolves and everybody. He took in a shuddering breath then continued.

"Jessica is my little sister."

* * *

Mina was non-plussed when the Zombie called her Jessica, and was about to protest when she saw him change back to his usual self.  
She obeyed the wizard and ran to get a blanket for him, having done so she asked the wizard  
'was that magic too? I'm not sure I like that sort of magic...'

* * *

Jeannie simply watched Vorick, she didn't think she had ever had so much loathing for anyone as she had for Jakes father. And now he had used her birthname, or at least tried to. The mis-pronunciation was probably meant to rile her…and it had. She was glad of Jakes presence in this difficult situation, but couldn't help but notice that he seemed…nervous. She'd never seen him so apprehensive. If she had spent longer thinking about it she might have realised that there was probably a good reason for it

Karina spoke, her gaze was steady and seemed to lower the temperature in the room by several degrees when it fixed on Vorick

"Lord Vorick" she said pronouncing the name with as much distaste as she could pour into those two small words "On behalf of the Von Adalwulf family I give you my word that we shall honour our side of this truce for its duration. Of course I'm sure I don't need to point out that any act of aggression towards a Von Adalwulf by a Von Uberwald, or unaccompanied intrusion upon our lands by a Von Uberwald will be considered the end of this agreement also"

Jeannie was amazed it had been concluded so quickly, somehow she had expected it to be more…volatile

The scene of Broc changing back to his usual self was the perfect distraction. Jeannie spoke in a much kinder voice than the one she had been using during the conversation with Vorick

"Patrick, maybe you should take him to the kitchens. Get him comfortable...see if Mark is back yet. I'll be there shortly aswell"

* * *

As Patrick walked with Mina and Broc back to the kitchen, he tried to answer her question as best he could.

"Yes Mina, that was magic too I'm afraid. I don't like it either but some people are better at that kind than others."

Sitting Broc at the table he brought some water and a pot of soup leftover from the dinner.

"Not exactly the best in town, but eat anyway - it'll help you get your strength back. We, uh, think that this may be something to do with the box. Mark left a few minutes ago to get it out of the immediate area and that's about the time you started to come around."

He wanted to show Mina that everything was alright.

"And you my dear may have had something to do with that as well! We might never have got Broc back to normal if you hadn't spoke to him. Your ability to touch people is profound - it makes up for you lack of fear."

_Problem is, if Broc comes within a few feet of that box again he'll - _

He stopped in mid thought. It might not be the box so much as him. After all, the box had been around in their presence at the Watch House and nothing happened until-

"Mina, Broc, please excuse me."

Returning to where the others were assembled, Patrick stood by the door and quietly motioned for Jeannie.

"Is there a library in the Embassy? I need to speak with someone."

* * *

It seemed that the others had only just left when Patrick appeared at the door and beckoned to Jeannie. Maintaining the authority in her voice at all times, she stood up and addressed the assembled party.

"Please excuse me for a short time, it appears our wizard wishes to make a report"

She left the study and made a point of shutting the door before walking down the corridor to reduce the chance of the sensitive ears in the study picking up the conversation. When Patrick asked her about the library Jeannie thought hard before replying

"I'm not entirely sure, there should be. You could try asking Igor…"

"Yeth Mithreth?"

Igor appeared just behind Jeannie, she had given up trying to figure out how they did it years ago so she simply said

"Ah Igor, Patrick would like to know if there is a library in the embassy?"

"Yeth Mithreth, I thall thow him to it immediately"

Jeannie smiled at Patrick, "There you go…but may I ask what this is all about?"

* * *

"I remembered there is one person..er...that might be able to help us - that is, if Ridcully hasn't told him anything different. He'll be in the library, he's always in the library!"

Leaving with Igor they walked down the hall and through sevearl smaller rooms before coming to a large room full of dusty volumes lining the walls.

"Ah, perfect Igor! Tell me, where are the, uh, special books Igor. You know, the ones not normally left out for regular visitors to read?"

Without a word, Igor moved down the wall and hoisted a ladder up to the top most shelf of books. Climbing to the top, he looked down at Patrick and asked, "Which bookth are you in need of thir?"

"All of them please. I'll be right back. Just leave them pilled on the floor."

Running back to the kitchen he grabbed a sack of fruit and his notebook. Turning to Mina he said, "I may need your help in the library Miss. Would you like to meet a real wizard?"

Finding the library again Patrick saw the pile of books towering in the corner. Ye gads there were a lot of them.

_Should be enough!_

Arranging the books into a similar pile that he'd once seen, Patrick dropped the bag of fruit into the middle and sat down.

"This might take a minute."

* * *

Jeannie was intrigued. She accompanied Patrick to the library, as they walked past the study door Jeannie opened it so it was slightly ajar...just in case Jake needed to leave the room, he wouldn't have to be reduced to asking one of the other werewolves to work the door for him

She watched Patricks preparations and sat back on a convenient desk watching to see what exactly was going to happen...

* * *

'Aren't you a real Wizard?' asked Mina as she looked on entranced at what was obviously magic happening before her eyes.  
'What do the books do? Why did the zomber, Broc, go like that?'

Mina watched what was happening fascinatedly

* * *

Twilight was fidgeting under the gaze of the werewolves as her phobia ran wild through her body. Unable to control herself, she let herself transform back into a cat and dahsed out of the room with a quick: "_Goodlucktoya,bye!_" to Snuffles.

Running through the embassy, Twilight eventually found Jeannie, Patrick, and Mina in the library. Skidding to a halt, unintentioally using a short stack of books as a brake, she clung cringing to the ground, still shaking. She turned to the group with an expression of surprised horror.

_You left a cat alone in a room full of_ werewolves?!

* * *

'Were they really all were-wolves?' Mina looked alarmed. 'Were they nice were-wolves or bigbad scary ones?'  
Mina picked up Twilight and stroked her fur. She turned back to where the magic was happening

* * *

Broc followed the others to the library. He stood secluded in a corner. oberserving. And he was worried. That hate voice was whispering again.

"Uhh, Patrick, who are we waiting for. unless you missed it there is a pack of werewolves sitting in a nearby room....werewolves who really dont like each other."

* * *

Patrick hadn't counted on the flurry of activity in the library, he knew this wasn't something well known outside of the University.

"Yes Broc, I know, but this little box of mine may put us all in greater danger if it starts to have an effect on all those...wolves next door."

He could hear the faintest of sounds coming closer. The books shifted slightly.

"Now Mina, no need to be frightened. Our visitor is a nice wizard...just don't call him a mon-

All at once there was swoosh and a breeze as a hair covered, orange ball of activity flew out of the middle of the books and scooped up the bag of fruit in one large hand.

"OOOK!"

_It worked! I'd heard of it, seen it done before, but never tried it myself. It really worked!_

Hanging upside down now from the chandelier, the Librarian looked down on the group and drew back his lips in a big toothy grin.

"Ook?"

"Um, uh, right. Hi there. Remember me? Uh, I that is, we - need your help."

Turning to the rest Patrick offered an explanation. "This is the Librarian of UU. He's actually a wizard but, well as you can see, spends his days like this now. Helpful kind of guy really. I am hoping that he can dig up any referrences at all to this box thingy and help us figure out how to deal with it."

_Not to mention what could happen if one of the wolves gets a hold of it._

"Problem is, I can't ever understand a blasted word he's saying. All I hear is 'ook' and such. I need someone who can talk to him or at least listen to him and tell us what he's saying."

Looking back at the Librarian now, Patrick wondered how to explain this.

"Hi. Me again. There is a problem, you see, and you might be able to help. Do you know about the box that Rincewind gave me? Any idea what it is really?"

From up above came another flurry of activity as the bag was robbed of all the bananas, leaving the other fruit to fall to the floor.

"Ook. Eeek."

"See what I mean?"

* * *

Jeannie wondered just what exactly Patrick was up to, he wanted to speak to someone who was always in the library? How exactly did a bag of fruit and a pile of books help him do that? He looked pretty certain about what he was doing though, so Jeannie carried on watching until the conversation turned to the werewolves. She tried to bite her tongue but after recent events she was getting tired and tetchy. The brief doze she had had on the coach was the only sleep she had had in the past 24 hours and it was beginning to show, as was the grey pre-dawn light through the library window. Morning would be here very soon

She managed to smile at Mina, and answered her question as honestly as possible without scaring her

"They are just normal werewolves Mina, they are no danger to you right now"

Then when Broc spoke up Jeannie glared at him

"Do you know I had noticed that! We were trying to seal a truce and to find out about the feral wolves until you crashed in wanting to kill us all. To be honest Broc what is more dangerous right now? A group of werewolves, who are reluctantly co-operating or a zombie who could turn back into a huge homicidal creature at any point? Well you know what? My money is on the huge homicidal zombie creature so lets concentrate on trying to find out what the hell happened to you back there in case it happens again ok!?"

She hadn't meant to get so angry but so much had happened since she had left that café back in the city. She was tired and sore.A decent hot meal wouldn't go amiss, and a chance to wash would be nice, she still had dried blood on her from the fight with the feral werewolves. Taking a couple of deeps breaths she looked again at Broc, trying to keep her voice calm and level. The last thing they needed was a werewolf on the verge of losing her temper

"Look, it seems very likely that that box the wizards want to get rid of so badly is the cause of whatever happened to you, so lets just wait. Whatever Patrick is doing I'm sure it is something that could help…ok?"

And with that she folded her arms, and very pointedly watched the area that Patrick had set up. The hairs on her neck rose, something was beginning to happen…when the orangutan appeared it all made sense. The Librarian was one of the Special Constables that the watch sometimes used, she had met him a few times before. Jeannie smiled, it made sense now...the fruit, the books.

Jeannie could understand some of what the librarian said, but he didn't like werewolves and besides, she wanted to see how much Mina could do

* * *

Mina giggled as she saw the orangutang seemingly appear from nowhere. 'Is he a wizard too?'

She listened to what the orangutang was saying:  
'He says that he doesn't like being summoned up like this, but thank-you for the bananas.' She explained, slightly amazed that the wizard couldn't hear this.  
'He thinks the box is very dangerous, he heard Pondy say somefink about random varulations in fabrics of reality, what does that mean?'  
'Oooook.'  
'Ohhh! Strange stuff'  
'ook-ook eeeek!'  
'He says to say that it's making the space-time continumum stretchy.'  
'Oook eeek oook ook.'  
'The wizards don't know what to do wiv it, they just want it out of the university cos they don't like it.'  
'OoooOook?'  
'He wants another banana.'  
'-ook'  
'or some nuts. How did he come out of the books? Can aminals be wizards too?'  
Mina yawned. 'Why can't you hear him?'

She looked curiously at the orangutang, who grinned at her. She waved cautiously at him

* * *

'Meow!!!' meowed Snuffles, as he barged into the library.  
_You're leaving me alone in a room full of wolves? It's you who can turn into a human!_  
He stared in awe at the orangutan and pointed a paw at him:  
'Meo-?!'

* * *

Twilight turned to Snuffles, smirking.

_Wasn't it you who said on the coach that you could be_ both?

Sniggering at him again, she saw Snuffles pointing at the orangutang.

_Don't ask, I barely know what's going on here_ She hopped out of Mina's arms and walked over to Snuffles.

_By the way,_ she said, and flicked him on the nose with her paw. _Consider my revenge gotten,_ she said it with an air of pride and triumph

* * *

_Random variations in the fabric of reality? Space-time continuum?_

Jeannie groaned softly, and looked over at Patrick with a 'please tell me I'm wrong about this' expression on her face

"This is wizard stuff alright! So if I understood that correctly, and bearing in mind this is coming from a furry wizard and being translated by a six year old…to put it simply this box can change the reality around it. So in theory it could change absolutely anything at anytime? And we have to not only travel _with it_ to find somewhere suitable to get rid of it but then try to dispose of something that can change reality? Wonderful!! Thank you bloody Ridcully!!"

She began to pace up and down the library, she was about to kick a stack of books in frustration but caught the warning look from the Librarian and walked past them. She might be a higher rank than him when he was a special constable but they all knew how passionate he was about his real job.

She turned around and strode back down towards where the others were grouped

"OK Patrick, if this is true then we can't try and dispose of this thing here in Uberwald. Think of all the creatures that live here, if this thing can change reality then think of what it could do to those creatures! Banshees, werewolves, vampires and the rest…imagine them with an added twist. You saw what it did to Broc, what if it did that to a blood sucker?"

Speaking of the box, she was growing concerned for Mark. Surely he should have returned by now?

Jeannie made a decision "Ok, I'm going to go back and see what's going on with the other werewolves. Someone needs to check the kitchens and see if there's any sign of Mark yet…not you Broc. I don't want you getting too close to that box again so soon. As soon as this business with the feral wolves is resolved we are going to get this thing as far away from here as possible…we'll decide where exactly later"

* * *

Mark stepped back into the kitchens. He placed the box on the a table and stood in the corner.  
He wondered if the box gave the person near it what they desired. Being an assassin he wanted to be good at his job.  
Now he was invisible, he certainly would be good at his job. Trouble was, nobody would be able to see him and it would get very lonely.  
He called out to Patrick. When nobody came after a few minutes, he wondered if his voice was invisible too and couldn't heard.

He then heard footsteps and watched to see who would enter the room

* * *

Twilight froze at the tiniest almost unheard sound. Anything outside of this room was hard to hear. Someone must've tried to soundproof the walls for some silence. This _was_ a library, afterall. It vaguely sounded like..

Her curiosity got the best of her once again, and Twilight turned to follow Jeannie out of the room.

Jeannie had said she was going to check on the werewolves, so Twilight made a turn in a different direction and walked into the kitchen. She was certain this was where the voice had come from, but looking around there seemed to be no one in the room. She couldn't see anyone, but Twilight could sense someone's presence on the edge of her whiskers. She focused her eyes in a way that only a cat could, and looked closely around the room. There it was. She couldn't see it as clearly as she could see Death or the color octarine, or anything else of the magical sort, but in the dim light of the fire she could see the faint outline of a human.

She sat there, tilting her head in mild confusion, looking up at the otherwise unseen shape

* * *

"Oh -kay. It might help if we knew who made the box and what for."

Patrick was starting to get the feeling their safety was being compromised greatly here. If one of those wolves should realize what they had, it could spell trouble.

"Mina, please ask him if he knows where the box came from and if he knows how to destroy it."

* * *

'Oooooooook!'  
Mina giggled  
'He says you're silly and he can hear you himself.'  
'Oook-eeeek.'  
'The box came out of a shop that wasn't there the next time someone went back.' Mina considered this, 'How can that happen? Did it burn down like the city did? That was exciting!'  
'oo-ook!'  
'It was an oblong shop?'  
'ook ook eek?'  
'Can he have another banana now?'

Mina thought for a bit, and said 'Why can he talk and be a wizard? Is he a magical monkey?'

* * *

No one had said anything in the room for at least fifteen minutes, both sides just staring at the other. Jake could feel his body begging him to sleep, but there was no way that was possible until these people left. When Twilight's nerves became too much for her to cope wit hand she shifted back into a cat, every wolf in the room appeared to fix their attention on the fleeting figure, the large black wolf even leapt after the creature but at a command from Vorick it stopped and returned. Finally Vorick spoke, breaking the silence, but not the tension.

"I believe we have settled the terms of this truce, my family will return to the castle where I will inform the rest of our pack of what we have agreed. We can then reconvene in a suitable location and discuss how we intend to route these feral wolves."

With a stiff and very formal bow to Lady Karina Vorick turned and left the Embassy the black wolf in toe. Jake was now left in the room with a number of Von Adawulfs including the wolf who had injured him. He watched them, waiting for them to leave, to tired to be angry at Jeannie's brother, he just wanted to sleep

* * *

Jeannie stifled a yawn as she walked back towards the study, a glimpse through a window on her way showed her that dawn was breaking outside bringing with it a rather beautiful soft pink sunrise. All it said to Jeannie though was that she had gone for too long without sleep.

Before she went much further she had a thought and summoned Igor, who appeared at behind her at once.

"Yeth Mithreth?"

"Igor, could you please make sure the ambassador is shown into a suitably _secure_ room. We don't want him disappearing before we have found out what he has been up to"

"Of courthe mithreth" Igor ambled off to lock up the ambassador and Jeannie approached the study. The door was open when she reached the room and she was relieved to see that Vorick and the black wolf had gone. Her mother and brother were still here. Jeannie was surprised to see Jake still in the room and smiled at him, she was impressed at how calmly he was handling Varicks presence. A glance at her brother showed that he was itching to taunt Jake about the leg, but a warning look from Jeannie wiped the smirk of his face. She turned to Lady Karina

"Mother, it's been a long night and I thank you for your part in it. Perhaps now you and Varick should return home and rest. I've made sure the ambassador is secured. He can explain himself to both families when we arrange another meeting"

Karina stood up, and nodded at Jeannie. She glanced at Jake and looked back at her daughter

"Very well, then…Jeannie. You are right, the nights events have taken it's toll. We all need to rest before further discussions can take place. Myself and Varick shall see ourselves out." and with that Karina swept out of the room, followed by Jeannie's brother who grinned at Jake as he left. Jeannie saw this and when they had gone she looked at Jake

_Sorry about my brother…he's an idiot!_

She walked over to a chair and flopped down onto it, the fireplace was giving off a cosy warmth and it was a great temptation to curl up in front of the fire and sleep. She rubbed her face

_Gods I'm exhausted!_

Jeannie sat back in the seat and looked at the flickering fire. Even the thought of having to walk to a bedroom was too much effort _ah to hell with it _she thought and slipping out of Jakes view for a moment she returned in her wolf shape. She curled up on the soft thick carpet at a comfortable distance from the fire and slipped into sweet sleep

* * *

Jake watched Jeannie's brother as he left and grunted an

_I know_

To Jeannies comment about Varick and then, as though all the muscles in his body had been removed, he collapsed. It had been sheer force of will that had kept him standing and the idea of anyone he couldn't trust seeing how tired he really was. His leg ached and he knew that moving into another position would be more comfortable, but he seemed not to have energy for that. Jake's human mind relaxed and the wolf mind gained control, right before Jake fell into a deep and dreamless sleep

* * *

Broc walked around the emmbassy. He was trying to calm down. So he went into guard mode. walking around the embassy, he checked every entrence. He watched Jeannie and Jake passout. He smiled at that, As a zombie, he didnt need to sleep.

As he was passing the kitchen, something came crashing through the roof. When the dust settled he noticed it was a young woman, with blood running down her head and a long cut down her leg. Then Broc saw her face.

"JESSICA!!!!"

Broc rushed to her side. She was uncouncious. Then Broc noticed the feral wolves dropping in through the roof. The anger ripped through him. And Broc ripped into the wolves. Broc felt himself begin to transfourm

* * *

In the study Jeannie slept. Her legs twitched as she dreamt, in her dream there was a black forest, what little light there was gleamed in the eyes of the creatures that were chasing her. In the distance she could see a figure standing just outside the edge of the forest, she ran and ran but never came closer to the edge of the trees. The creatures still chased her, their snarling was becoming louder and closer, there was a roar……

…which shook her out of her muzzy headed she nevertheless recognised the roar…oh no, not Broc again!

She wasted no time in running to the kitchens where the noise was coming from and was greeted by the strange sight of Broc fighting…nothing. He was flailing around at empty air. The odd word escaped him though, Jeannie recognised 'Jessica' and 'wolves'. In the watch she had also dealt with enough drunks and drug addled trolls to recognise the signs of hallucinations when she saw them.

The noise had attracted Patrick, Mina and the Librarian to the kitchen door. Jeannie shouted to Patrick

_He's having a hallucination!_

when Patrick just gave her a blank look Jeannie remembered she was in wolf shape and he couldn't understand a word she had just said

_damn it! Mina, tell Patrick we need to put Broc in something secure! He's seeing things that aren't there!_

Mina translated to Patrick who nodded solemnly and closed his eyes. There was a strange moment which made Jeannies hackles rise then Broc was inside a barrier, again made from the wood and rock in the building.

There was absolutly no way he could break out of it and satisfied that Broc posed no threat in his magical makeshift prison whilst he fought imaginary wolves, Jeannie went back to the study to continue her much needed rest, but not before advising the others to also get some sleep as soon as they could.

Returning to the study Jeannie found her spot on the carpet in front of the fire and curled up again

* * *

Mark continued to shout at the others, but he went unheard. Only the cat, Twilight, looked in his general direction. He ran to Patrick to shake him to try and make him understand but just ran straight through him.

_I'm....a ghost_ thought Mark. He turned and looked at the box on the table. With Broc's commotion, they obviously hadn't seen it yet.

_I'm currently the world's most deadly assassin, yet I can't even touch anyone. There's irony in there somewhere _

Mark left the kitchen and made his way into the study. The family leaders had left and it was just Jake asleep in front of the fire. Mark fell through a chair and decided to sleep on the floor after numerous attempts

* * *

Twilight watched as the faint ouline of Mark finally give up on trying to get the others' attention and go to sleep on the floor of the study. She was ready to follow and settle down, herself, when she felt something..warp in the air, or something. She turned her head up to look at the box that was still on the table.

"Stupid box, must be messing with the air in here," It took a few moments for realization to finally dawn. "Did I just say that?!"

Twilight looked down and where there should have been paws, she saw hands and fingers. Instead of her glossy fur, she could feel nothing but the cloth of the dress on her back. Gasping short yells, she frantically tried to change back..nothing happened. Standing up, she quickly ran to the nearest window where she could just make out her reflection. Though transforming into a false human, the one thing that never changed were here peculiar green eyes, as was the normal color to cats. But, now as she stared at her relfection, all that stared back was wretched _blue!_

In her worst nightmare come true, Twilight turned to the group, pure horror personified on her face, and screamed, until her lungs were ready to burst and tears formed in her eyes.

"THAT DAMN BOX TURNED ME _HUMAN!!_"

Her mind, still not ready to accept that this had really happened, chose that time to take the easy way out and shut down. Twilight fainted from where she stood

* * *

'Oook oook OOOOOK!' The librarian protested loudly at the use of the word 'monkey'. But as he said this he was cut off by a loud roar.

Mina, the librarian and the wizard rushed over to the kitchen where Broc the zombie was moving strangely.  
'Is it a game?' asked Mina, all prepared to join in with the strange flailing. At that moment, however, Jeannie spoke. Mina told the wizard what had been said and watched as the trees grew up around Broc again.

'Poor Zomber! How will he get out? Why's he so angry?'

Mina was getting more confused by the minute, and this was not helped by Twilight suddenly turning back into a human.  
'You're a cat too! Why can't you change back? And what's damn?'

Mina glanced at the table and said 'Is that the magic box? Can we do some magic with it?'

'OOooooOOook!*' cried the librarian as he rushed out of the room.

*'I'm out of here! I'm very happy with the shape I have thank-you,'

* * *

Jake had figured out he was dreaming when there was no cold despite the snow falling, his breath misting and the clear sky. He was deep within the heart of the Uberwald forest. He was alone, no pack mates were close and he could feel the gut wrenching loneliness of the wolf. No scents of prey came to him either, just the sound of creaking snow and whispering leaves. The urge to howl welled up in him but something held him back, still the howl begged to be released and when he could resist no longer it exploded from him, a call of terrible sadness, a call begging for any wolf to reply. The howl took heartbeats to fade and drift among the foliage, but no response came and still Jake stood, swivelling his ears, desperate to catch the merest hint.

He was running, running through the streets of Ankh-Morpork terror gripping his chest so tightly he thought his heart would explode. The streets were empty of all life and buildings flew by in a blur but still he couldn't escape his pursuer and he knew that if he were to stop he would die, he didn't know how he knew, but he felt it wit ha certainty he could not explain. He seemed to run for endless miles and always down the same street, eventually his muscles turned to water and he collapsed, slamming into a wall, blood painted the street where he had fallen and slid, he knew he was dying.

Once again eh stood in the snow that was not cold and felt that gut wrenching loneliness. Looking down he saw the foot prints of another, they were bloodied and went off into the trees. With the caution that only a wolf can muster he moved forwards and followed the trail. The forest grew thicker and the space between each tree seemed harder to pass, the scent of blood was clear in the air and he continued to follow. Eventually the forest eased its grip and a clearing appeared before him. Within it lay a familiar scene.

Jake jerked awake and stood forgetting about his injured leg and tottered sideways, he was moving towards the fire and suddenly he lost his footing and was sprawled across a blond furred rug….where had that come from?

* * *

Jeannie was enjoying a blissful sleep as she bathed in the warmth of the dying embers of the fire, no dreams or noises disturbed her this time until she was suddenly awakened by a weight falling on her. Instinctively she reacted by turning to bite but quickly recognised the familiar scent of the black mass of fur that lay sprawled on top of her and relaxed.

_Are you quite comfortable there?_

She looked down at his splinted limb

_How's your leg now?_

* * *

Jake looked at Jeannie, he had never seen her from this angle, which was upside down. He realised then that he was trembling. However, the fire's warmth and the feel of Jeannie beneath him both helped to banish the memories of the dream. He didn't move though, just stayed staring into her face upside down.

_No, I don't know why, but the leg is still broken and in fact is very painful at the moment as it is caught on a chair leg _

He pointed this out quite calmly and then blinked

* * *

Jeannie felt Jakes trembling but it didn't last long so she didn't think anymore about it and put it down to the pain in his leg. Jeannie looked down at Jakes leg, then looked back up at his face

_It hasn't healed at all? That's strange…very strange. Perhaps you should get Igor to have a look at it, the one at the watch house can heal broken bones almost as quickly as a werewolf can, maybe this one has a similar trick up his sleeve?_

She looked around the room then back up into Jakes eyes

_Well I'm afraid that, cosy as this is, we can't stay like this all day. Can you free your leg at all or are you stuck?_

* * *

Patrick hadn't been exactly useful in the last few minutes. He'd been trying to think of all the possibilities - who made the box, what it was for, what it did and most importantly what would happen if it was used....intentionally.

He was grateful for the information from the Librarian and absentmindedly handed over another banana, although he should have squirmed a bit at the use of the 'm' word.

_An oblong shop...gone the next day.... I don't know the city that well...._

Trying to answer the barrage of questions from Mina, Patrick settled on the simple route.

"He is a wizard my dear, probably better than mst you will meet. There was an accident some time ago and he was changed into the figure you saw before you. Others have offered to reverse the spell and make him human again, but he absolutley refuses."

Figuring that the Librarian would return when he was good and ready, Patrck felt the weight of too many hours catching up with him.

"Come Mina, time for all us magical folk to get some rest. The sun is coming up and we haven't had any decent rest since....well, for too long.  
I tell you what. If we can sleep for just a bit, I promise to rustle up some jam filled treats for later."

Passing by Broc, the two noticed tat he was again quiet and trying to get comfortable enough to rest. Patrick stopped momentarily and the stone and trees released the zombie once again.

"Come my friend, we'll get you somewhere more...suitable."

_I wonder where Mark is? He was only supposed to be gone for a minute. I'm sure we would know if something had happened _Broc stumbled behind Patrick. When Broc enterd he ingored the pile of black and blonde fur. He just fell to floor and curled up. His eyes stared at nothing, they had a slightly glassy look. A slide show of Bleeding Jessica, Raveged Jessica and everyother thing bad his brain could come up with. Once every few minutes he would let out a whimper and rock back and forth a few times. Then slowly but surly......He began to sob

* * *

Jake lay there blinking at Jeannie for a few more minutes and then a broad upside down grin spread across his face and he wriggled as though he were getting comfortable.

_I could get off, but it's so comfortable here, you are very warm, although perhaps a bit bonier than I like._

When he heard Jeannie snort and start to stand he called

_Okay okay, wait a sec_

She lay back down, he managed to roll to one side, towards the chair and then he was off her. He stood, the leg felt better, but he could still feel the break and he was a little more worried then he was happy Jeannie knowing.

_You know I'm an invalid, you should let me lie where I want_

He chided mockingly and then shaking himself, he felt much better for having a rest, playful even. That's when he noticed his tail wagging, good grief, all he needed to do now was yelp playfully and it would be like being a puppy again, he did not yelp playfully though and he firmly stopped his tail from wagging

* * *

Everyone was walking around looking important and normally Snuffles would've walked into their feet, tripping them over, or meow incredibly loud and bothersome, but he was tired, so he went to sleep right where he was standing.  
He was too large to trip them over anyway...

He shifted his position. In the last time lying on the floor didnt seem so comfortable anymore.

When he woke up, all was silent, so he strolled through the rooms aimlessly, when he sensed Twilight and decided to tease her.  
He stood still, halfway towards his target, for he realized the state she was in. She was... (and here he shuddered) _human_ .  
Hesitating, he walked over to her, patted her on the shoulder, and gave a half-hearted meow.

This was when he realised that someone else was in the room

* * *

Twilight was jerked awake and sat bolt upright, heart pounding, and didn't calm down until she saw that it was Snuffles. Looking around, she noticed that everyone had left.

"That thing about letting sleeping dogs lie doesn't apply to cats, people!" she called out to the world in general, after realizing that she had been left to lie there.

Sighing, Twilight turned back to Snuffles, and had to hold back the sudden urge to pet him. Why did humans even do that in the first place? She looked at him with her now annoyingly blue eyes.

"Sorry, Snuffles, I'd be all too happy to chase and taunt you, but I'm unfortuneately stuck as" (here, she shruddered at the thought of the word) "_human_"

Snuffles suddenly looked as if he sensed someone else in the room. Twilight would have sensed it also, but humans didn't come with that feature.

"What's wrong, boy?" _Boy?_ she thought _Where did_ that _come from?_

* * *

Jeannie stood up and shook herself, smiling she brushed past Jake, playfully flicking his nose with her tail as she went by. She had slept well which had put her in a very good mood, and besides there were worse ways to be woken up

_Well then Mr Invalid, I really think you should get that leg looked at but of course it's up to you. I wouldn't dream of telling Lord Jake Von Uberwald what to do_

She said with a teasing tone in her voice,then putting her front paws out infront of her Jeannie had a good stretch feeling how well her wounds from the fight had healed and how much stronger her muscles felt after such a good rest. Jaws capable of crushing bone opened in a yawn then Jeannie shook herself again feeling much more awake

She looked back at Jake and wondered about mentioning the inevitable meeting between their families again later that day but decided against it...just for the moment. She was feeling pretty cheerful and didn't want to spoil that just yet

* * *

Snuffles looked at Twilight, insulted by the word 'boy'. He stamped with one of his hind feet ((looking surprisingly much like a pantomime horse or a pantomime princess margaret)) to indicate that he was indeed standing on his hind feet. Dogs didnt do that.  
He then wandered around the room, flailing around with his arms, but couldnt find anyone. Must've gone away, he reasoned... He then said:  
'Meow.' _You cant see him._  
When she didnt react, he reasoned that she really is fully human and did what eldritch animal instincts told him to:  
He raised a paw and, with great effort, extended just 3 claws.  
'Meow. Meow. Meow?' he said, just in case. _Three words. Black-clad biped invisible. Youre not getting any of this, are you?_  
He waved the paw around and tried to achieve a Good-Boy-Laddie look on his face

* * *

Jake sneezed as Jeanie's tail brushed his nose and he watched her stretch

_Oh yes, stretch and please show off in front of me and just you remember that I am Lord Von Uberwald, a terrible and harsh leader etc etc etc._

He smiled and then turned to look at his leg accusingly.

_I suppose I could get Igor to look at it_

He shuddered at the thought of having anyone touching it again.

_I'm just a little worried, I've never had an injury this long before, I can feel that it has healed but it should be all fixed by now._

He didn't know why he'd said that allowed. It was certainly something that was troubling him, but saying it out loud? It had to be now didn't it? Right at the wrong time when he needed to be in human form for all these discussions and routing out of feral wolves. Something very strange was going on at this Embassy

* * *

Jeannie looked at Jake for a moment not saying anything, then she sat down infront of him, her eyes full of concern at hearing Jakes actually admit that he was worried. That in itself intensified her own concern

_I know, it should be completely healed by now…I'm sure Igor can help you in that respect. But the question remains, why is it healing so slowly?_

She looked down at the leg, still splinted and bandaged. A small frown appeared on her face as her mind contemplated recent events and she looked back up at Jake.

_I might know the reason actually. In fact the more I think about it the more likely it seems. If you think you can bear it then lets go see if Igor can help solve the problem… and on the way I'll explain to you about the probable cause_

It all made sense now…The way Snuffles had grown, Broc becoming alive and turning into a…whatever it was he had turned into, and also what the Librarian had told them. Surely something that could affect the fabric of reality could easily affect a werewolfs abilities?

Standing up, Jeannie began to explain to Jake about The Box

* * *

Once again Jake found himself standing in Igor's room, what in the gods names Jeannie expected Igor to do was beyond him, but he decided that it would be good to take her advice and see what he had to say for himself.

"It ith healing mithreth."

Igor said to Jeannie, Jake standing on the table felt like a common dog, but managed to radiate at a righteous indignation that no dog would possibly be able to do. Igor was massaging the leg gently and moving it backwards and forwards.

_So it's this box! Well let's get it out of here, the idea of this leg taking weeks to fix is not a good one. As nice as it is to be a wolf, to be a wolf for that long?..."_

He trailed off pretty sure Jeannie knew what he was getting at.

_The last time I had an adventure with you I remember I got stabbed and kidnapped etc but started later on in the adventure. This box seems to be doing strange things now. Has no one tried just smashing the damn thing with a hammer _

* * *

Jeannie had usherd Jake out of the study first then taken a moment to change back to human shape and dress before they went to Igors room. She nodded to Igor now, and said a little testily

"Yes Igor, we know it's healing but the point is it should have healed completely by now. Listen, our Igor back in the Ankh Morpork City watch has a trick for healing broken bones extremely fast. I'm assuming that you can also…"

"Ah, yeth. How ith Igor? He never writeth you know, I mean would it be tho hard for the boy to thend a clackth or thomthing?... Yeth I can acthelorate the healing protheth if the mathter tho witheth?"

Jeannie raised a questioning eyebrow at Jake. They were both all too aware of what would happen to Jake if he was stuck in wolf form for the time it would take for the bone to heal if it carried on at this rate

_Well, do you withh… I mean…wish for Igor to help you? _

She watched Igor manipulating Jakes leg

_Yes, life always seems to get much more exciting when you are around. I have to say these past few months of __**not**__ being shot at, gouged with silver and in mortal peril every five minutes were rather relaxing compared to the past 24 hours since you turned up in my life again._

It was said with a smile though, she had been glad to see Jake again. Even if she wouldn't actually say as much

_As for getting The Box out of here, Mark has taken it outside and as far as I know he hasn't returned yet. It seemed to help Broc when the box was taken away but that hasn't made much difference to you from the look of it so either I'm wrong and The Box isn't the cause of it...or proximity isn't always a factor of it's effects. I doubt a hammer would be sufficient to destroy it and if it was then I expect Ridcully would have done just that instead of sending Patrick away with it. I have a feeling that disposing of the damn thing is going to be much trickier than we first thought_

she ended with a heartfelt sigh

* * *

She could barely pick up bits and pieces of what Snuffles was saying, vaguely recalling what some of the meows might have meant, but she still couldn't understand him. So, Twilight rolled her _blue_ eyes (can you tell she's pissed about it?) and went along with the age old game.

"Uh, okay, three words? Right, um, third word, um..Ass? No, longer than ass. Two? What? Oh! Assass..in! Assasain! Mark the Assassin? He's still invisible?"

It was then that Twilight caught sight of Jeannie and Jake leaving the study.

"Well, they're up at least, but I wonder where Patrick and Mina got off to? I should go and tell them what's happened. Bo-erm..I mean Snuffles, you're currently the only one who can see Mark. Can you try to wake him up? Right now I need to eget as far away from that damn box as possible"

With that, Twilight turned and walked off in search of the others.

"Patrick?" she called out "Mina? Where are you guys?"

* * *

Patrick awoke to his name being called. He wasn't sure how long he'd slept, but he still felt good for it. The chair had been comfortable enough.

He couldn't tell at first who had been calling him, so he thought it was possibly a dream. Looking around, the kitchen slowly came into focus, _We probably coud have found more comfortable sleeping quarters, but this room was still the safest._

Mina looked like she was still sleeping, Broc had managed to settle down and...

There it was again, someone calling his name.

"Yes! In here, in the kitchen."

He was more than surprised to see Twilight walk through the door - human again.

"Oh, er, hello."

* * *

Twilight was slightly relieved to see that Mina had been okay, but then she remembered something, and turned an annoyed expression on Patrick.

"Okay, first of all, a girl faints and is lying there on the floor and you just _walk away?_" She sighed again and resumed with what she originally came in here for.

"Anyway," she continued. "A few more problems have come up. Mark has actually been back for a while now, but he's apparently invisible. And since I'm somehow trapped in this wretched human body, Snuffles is the only one who can see him. Jake and Jeannie are up, but I think they went down to Igor's lab, so something must be wrong with Jake's leg." Here she took a breath. "So, that's this morning's tradgedies"

* * *

"You uh, fainted then did you? I'm sorry. Feeling better now are we?"

Patrick couldn't believe he'd missed that, but then again sometimes the obvious ran circles around him.

"Mark is invisible you say? That would explain...Okay. Get Snuffles to find him and bring him to wherever it is that Igor does his work. I'll, uh, well I don't know what to do right now, but I guess I have to do something about that box. Try to find out where Mark left it will you?"

_Jake is hurt, Mark is invisible, Twilight is now human and the Librarian has gone missing. We're only starting our second day, can this get better?_

Putting a kettle on the fire, Patrick tried to think of his next move should be

* * *

Twilight nodded to Patrick and left to find Snuffles in the same place.

"Snuffles, you're the only one who can see Mark right now, so you need to help me get him down to Igor's lab. If anyone can help Mark it's probaly an Igor."

She walked carefully, trying to make sure that she didn't step on the assassin.

"Have you been able to wake him up?"

* * *

Mina, who had been woken by the conversation and was now lying awake protested:  
'But I know where the box is! It's on the table! I wanted to do magic with it but you made me go to bed!'

Mina got up and yawned involuntarily. 'What's fainting?' she asked curiously.

A thought occured to Mina, and after a bit she also asked nervously and hesitantly 'Do.. do we get breakfast today?' Mina looked slightly scared as she waited for a reply.  
Mina knew that food could be a touchy subject, and she had often upset mummy and made her cross by asking for it

* * *

Hearing Mina protest about the box brought Patrick out of his thoughts.

"On the table? Oh, no. Just leave it there Mina. That isn't something we want to be messing with, it can be very dangerous. You'll have enough magic to learn before this adventure is over."

Thinking about breakfast himself he added, "Ofcourse you get breakfast today! And tomorrow and the day after and the day after that as well!"

_Sad. She probably didn't get that at home. Now I know she's better off with us._

"Fainting, Mina, is the way in which your mind says, 'enough for now' and temporarily goes to sleep, regardless of what you may be doing at the moment. It can be quite humorous at times to watch."

Patrick moved quickly about the kitchen and pantry preparing the morning feast for all. It kept him busy and let him think. He was thinking the best thing for everyone would be if he took the box and moved ahead of them by about a day or so. That would leave him exposed to certain dangers, but would give the rest a better sense of safety. As long as he kept the magic down to a dull roar, he should be alright.

_But I still don't know where to take the damn thing. I'll wait to see how this truce goes between the wolves before I decide._

Finding the box, he wrapped it up and placed it in his bag along with the armor and a few select supplies from the pantry. No sense it going to waste

* * *

Broc Finally got a hold of himself...or so it seemed. He saw everything without acutlly seeing it. Mostly images of horrorfing deaths of his sister danced in front of his eyes. He walked to the kitchen door. He watched Patrick put the Box in the pantry. Thats when Broc snapped. He didn't become the Monster or go bezerk. He just grabbed his sword, slowly walked toward the pantry with a raised sword and a determined exprission

* * *

Mina watched what was happening in the kitchen with interest. There was so much food in the pantry! Mina noticed Broc the zombie move, sword raised, towards Patrick and the pantry and asked him:  
'What are you doing Mr Broc?' she giggled 'you can't attack a pantry!'  
As an after-thought she added 'Are you better? You were scary yesterday. Can I have a go with the sword?'

* * *

As Jeannie waited for Jake to decide about his treatment she was aware of something strange happening in the air around her. It seemed to pull at her morphic field and the urge to change back to the wolf was tremendous, Jeannie resisted and it went away after a few seconds but something didn't feel right even after it had gone. She turned and something knocked a glass off the small table that was behind her. Jeannie turned around a few more times before she realised what it was exactly that wasn't right, and then she swore quietly under her breath

"I'll be back very soon. I just need to throttle a certain wizard!" she announced to Jake and Igor who, by the looks on their faces, had already noticed the change to Jeannies appearance.

Jeannie turned with as much dignity as she could muster and stormed down to the kitchens, throwing the door back she saw Mina, Patrick and Broc and marched towards Patrick, stepping in between him and the zombie.

" I have a tail!" She yelled at him, turning around to emphasise the point.

"I am still human shaped but I have a tail!" she pointed a furious finger at Patrick, "This is your bloody box again isn't it!? The damn thing is messing around with my morphic field _and_ Jakes. His leg is _still_ broken, that is unheard of in a werewolf after this amount of time." She was about to launch in to a complete tirade but under all the anger she was aware that it wasn't actually Patrick's fault. Sighing she sat down heavily on a wooden chair, yelped as she crushed the rogue tail and stood up again.

Folding her arms she leant against the wall instead, and sulked. As if being a werewolf wasn't hard enough by itself! Now she looked like a human with a tail, that was really going to make things easier…for the werewolf hunters

* * *

In truth Jeannie saved Brocs, possibly everbodys, life. The sight of her tail just stopped Broc in his tracks...Then Broc laughed and laughed. once he was able to stop, with a large smile on his face, Broc set his hand on Mina's shoulder.

"yes your right Mina its stupid to attack a pantry. Now lets find something for you to eat. I think there has to be something i can make. While i attend to that Mina you cant have the sword right now, but be sure to point and laugh at Jeannie's tail."

With a jokeing smile at Jeannie, Broc bustled around the kitchen looking for food

* * *

Patrick had been unaware of Broc appraoching with the sword until Mina had spoken and then didn't have any time to react as Jeannie had stormed in complaining about her tail.

_This thing is just gettng more out of hand._

"Now Broc, I'm sure I know what you're thinking right now, but trust me - attacking that box with a sword is only going to make things much worse."

Stopping for just a second he added, "You were going to attack the box right?"

Turning to Jeannie, Patrick finally decided that he had to voice his concerns.

"I can only wonder why this damn thing was made, who it was made for and what it is supposed to do...really. We can see the effect it has on some of us, but not all. For example, it didn't directly interfere with any of the other werewolves yesterday did it?"

Patrick continued as he returned to his task of preparing breakfast.

"I'm beginning to think that if the University wasn't a safe place to keep it, then the only place to take the box to would be...possibly...Cori Celesti. The magical field there may be the only thing on all of the disk capable of containing the thing."

Finally producing the first plate fit for a king, Patrick motioned for the others to sit.

"Jeannie, I've been thinking. This situation may be better served if I took the box and started out on my own. Just a day ahead of you or so. We could arrange checkpoints along the way where I cold leave messages for you and such. It may be the only way to keep you all safe."

More plates were fixed and put on the table along with one holding several small jam filled treats.

"Do you think it would be possible to leave the Embassy or will those rogue wolves be back?"

* * *

There he was... Snuffles nudged Mark, and although his paw passed through the ghosts back, he seemed to have gotten his attention.  
Snuffles made an impatiant gesture with his head to indicate that Mark should follow him.  
As he walked towards the pantry, he realized that he could actually understand the human language! He had understood what Twilight had said!  
When he entered the pantry he was so deep in thought that he didnt realize what he did: He gestured towards the empty spot which was Mark theatrically and said:  
'Meow mee meow! Mee moo meouw!' the odd thing was, that while he spoke, another voice could be heard coming from him: 'There he is! Just look at him!'  
'Mee meow?/ What the -?' Snuffles looked at his paws, realized that they had nothing to do with this, and grabbed his own throat.  
'Meeeowww meouw mwaah! / I've grown another pair of vocal cords!' Bewildered, he added:  
'Meow?! / What _are_ vocal cords?!'

* * *

Mark looked at Snuffles.

Mark looked at everyone else in the room

Mark then figured that they probably thought the cat had gone mad.

"Snuffles, if you can hear me...tell them that everything about me is invisible. My scent, my voice, everything!"

* * *

Snuffles looked at Mark.  
He looked at everyone else.  
They probably thought he was mad, he reckoned. Mind you, he suspected the very same thing himself...  
He looked at Mark again, who appeared to be saying something. Snuffles heard the voice as if from a very long way away, but he could make out the words.  
He said:  
'Meeow meow mee Meow! / No voice, no smell, nothing!' and pointed at the empty Mark again.  
When they kept staring at him, he reckoned that they couldnt make out the human words cause of the vocal confusion going on inside him. He looked around, grabbed a convinientley place blank cloth, placed it over his head and made: 'ooo ooo / ooo ooo' noises, while waving his arms around in the air. Unfortunatley, the cloth didnt even cover half of his body, but he hoped they'd get the mesage, no matter how primitive these humans were.  
_And youre turning into one of them..._ whispered a voice inside him

* * *

Twilight watched Snuffles' desperate attempts to inform everyone of what was happening. She suspected it was going a bit over the edge, trying to pull the cloth over his body. At one point she decided that she should help out a bit.

"He means that Mark is right there," she said, finally. "But, he's turned into a ghost, so his voice, scent, and everything else has become completely undetectable to humans. Him now being of the supernatural nature, only cats can see him. I'm no longer able to because of that bloody box, so now Snuffles has unexpectedly become Mark's new interpreter" After a quick breath, Twilight turned back to the cat. "That pretty much sum it up?"

* * *

Jeannie stayed leant against the wall, still really annoyed about the tail. She watched Broc laughing at her and scowled at him, ordinarily she could find a bright side to most things but the way the box had tried to change her morphic field like that had left her feeling violated and vulnerable and she dealt with that by getting angry.

So she said nothing and stayed where she was, looking sullen and annoyed. When Patrick spoke Jeannie listened without interrupting and there was a fairly lengthy pause afterwards as she contemplated what had been said

"Cori Celesti?....OK, yes I can see the sense in that. But I'm not happy about you being on your own so far ahead of us. What if something happened to you? We would have no hope of getting to you in time to help. No, I think we should stick together, you have sworn to protect your apprentice and I have been assigned to escort you to your destination and to help you anyway that I can…so that's what I will do. Although if we can find out a bit more about the box I'd feel happier. Maybe we can somehow dampen it's effects for a while or something?"

She shifted position slightly. Having a tail in wolf form felt normal but having it in her human shape was extremely annoying and it kept getting in the way.

"I think that leaving the embassy will be safe enough, in that there won't be groups of rogue wolves waiting at the door. However Uberwald is even more dangerous than usual right now. Perhaps we should wait until mine and Jakes families have spoken and see what action is to be taken against the feral pack…speaking of which I really should return to Igors room and talk to Jake about the meeting. "

Jeannie stood upright and went to leave the kitchen but Snuffles caught her attention. She watched the gestures and froze when he miaowed…she could have sworn there was a voice just behind the feline words. It wasn't clear and no-one else seemed to notice it, she listened hard next time Snuffles spoke…yes, it was there again.

When Twilight spoke up Jeannie looked around the room but picked up on nothing, but apparently Mark was there somewhere

"Not only out of the range of humans, even I can't sense him at all…and, um, has anyone else noticed that Snuffles sounds odd?"

* * *

"Snuffles, tell them I can hear everything they say. Telly them that I have lost the ability to make contact with anything. I can't sit on a chair, I can't pick up a weapon. I certainly can't get on a coach to go anywhere. Although I can probably eavesdrop on some conversations if hat would be any use"

Mark felt completely useless. All his training could not have prepared him for this. He could be as noisy as he liked an nobody would hear him. It really was most inconvenient

* * *

When Snuffles repeated Marks words to the group, Jeannie again looked around the room still failing to pick up any indication of the assasssin

"Ok, Mark. I'm assuming you can hear me. I'm going to go and speak to Jake about the meeting today and I suggest that you stick with Patrick. Snuffles, you need to stay with them aswell, now we've found Mark we don't want to lose him again. Patrick, is the Librarian still around? Maybe he can find something that can help, I've heard he can find books on anything. Maybe there is something in his books that can help us, a way to reverse the effects or switch the box off for while or _something_?"

Jeannie shrugged, magic really wasn't on her list of skills and there was only so much she could think of.

"I don't know, look I'll be back soon. Just try not to lose anyone else in the meantime"

And wiht that she left the room and walked back to Igors room

* * *

Jake felt the strange…thing in the air and watched as Jeannie, not shimmered, but her wolf was overlaid over the human form, it was very strange. Once it subsided Jeannie was still standing there, but the tail was an obvious addition. It was a serious situation but Jake couldn't help smiling, he was just glad she wasn't looking when he had. She had left the room leaving Igor and himself alone. The small man was still manipulating his leg, it would click a few times and there would be a sharp stab of pain but there was nothing he couldn't deal with. Eventually Igor asked him if he should try and help it to mend. Jake nodded, which Igor thankfully took as a yes.

They probably could have heard the howl in Ankh-Morpork. It's really a very useful thing a howl, for wolves it allows them to inform others of their position, to warn off other packs and a myriad of other things. For werewolves a howl enabled the constant stream of swearing without the need for taking a breath, this was what Jake now did as Igor once again manoeuvred the leg and use a needle, a rather large needle, to inject paste into the break.

When Jeannie came in he was on his side and panting and not looking like a happy bunny or a happy wolf for that matter.

_You can hardly notice the tail, and if people do, it's a talking point_

He decided that was the most charming he could be as thoughts of killing the wizard would probably not be best vocalised at the moment, especially when he would _probably_ regret them later.

_You know, in order to keep my mind ticking over_ he said, when really he meant keeping his human mind in control _I was wondering, why has the box not seemed to effect Patrick and Mina. What do the two of them have in common that has kept them safe from the boxes effects?_


	4. Chapter 4

Jeannie walked down the corridor still feeling really annoyed , she was however snapped out of her angry thoughts by Jakes extremely loud howl. When she entered Igors room she saw Jake laying panting on the table and Igor walking back to his collection of instruments with a very large needle in his hand. She shuddered, no wonder the howl had been so…well, she just hoped Mina hadn't heard some of those words.

Hardly notice it? Nice try, but I think a human looking female with a wolfs tail is pretty noticeable. It is certainly a talking point though, right before they would probably invite me to have a really close look at the family silverware

She tried to look as sulky as possible when saying all this but a small smile managed to break through. She walked over to the table where Jake was and sat carefully on the edge, taking care to make sure the tail wasn't in the way

I've also been wondering about Patrick and Mina and the only thing I can think of is that they both have magical skills, it must shield them from the effects or something. Either that or the box just hasn't done anything to them yet, I don't know how it all works...having said that I don't think Patrick knows how it all works either.

Jeannie looked down at Jake on the table, then over at Igor who was busy at his workbench

"Igor, does Jake need to stay here or is he done?"

"The Mathter hath been treated Mithreth, hith leg thould be thtrong enough to use again very thortly but he needth to be careful not to exthert himthelf un-nethitherily until it is healed."

"Thankyou Igor"

That's good news, you should be fine very soon. Well, I suppose we need to discuss the dreaded family meeting that we will have to endure later on. Where and when shall I inform my dear mother that we need to attend this delightful event?

Jeannie wasn't looking forward to yet another encounter with the Von Uberwalds but it was unavoidable and unfortunately a nessecary part of getting rid of the feral pack

* * *

It should have healed already

He snapped annoyed that he was here at all.

I'm sorry, it's no one's fault, but I feel useless like this

He jumped down, landing awkwardly, but managing to steady himself. There was still bands to keep the injured leg straight, but they allowed for easier movement, still it felt clunky and unnatural.

I think it's a lovely tail and right now I am trying to solve another problem rather than a family meeting.

He stretched the leg tentatively, he winced but shook it off and placed it back on the ground.

If Patrick and Mina both have magical fields can Patrick not do a spell on us? Surely we'll then have a magical field around us and perhaps be a bit more protected from the boxes effects?

Jake shook his head and appeared puzzled for a moment before sighing.

Could you please scratch my right ear, it is killing me and I can't scratch for obvious reasons. I need one back leg to stay standing, however the only one I can use is currently keeping me from turning into a heap on the floor.

I also heard what Patrick was talking about in the kitchen, perhaps we could get an escort of Uberwalds and Adalwulfs to escort them out of Uberwald? Or at least keep an eye out for feral wolves until they reach the borders?

Jake went silent for a while and when he spoke again his voice was quiet and he looked at Jeannie.

You know that when the threat has gone they will start fighting again

* * *

Patrick was most worried about what had happened to Mark. The box was working according to some set of instructions that amplified or tuned to...fear? Jake was hurt and not being able to heal left him vulnerable; Jeannie now could not hide the wolf side of her, which also left her somewhat in danger. Twilight was now almost one hundred percent human - a state she was not happy with at all, leaving her at a loss and Snuffles was caught in between states; not entirely a cat or human. Those four were compromised now in ways that could cause them great danger in the future, especially in Uberwald.

Mark was a different story however. He was invisible and apparently unable to interact with anything around him, making it impossible for him to manipulate his environment. If left in that way for too long...he might just cease to exist. He could become a ghost for real.

"I'll see if I can find the Librarian, but once he goes off somewhere it can be hard to get him back until he is good and ready."

Patrick was feeling a little overwhelmed. He had no experience with anything like this and began to harbor some very definite opinions about Ridcully, Rincewind and the rest of UU.

He left the room, leaving the others to finish breakfast and made his way back to the Library and the pile of books.

He's got to be here somewhere! Blast! Why would he leave us hanging like that?

A chill came over Patrick and the light seemed to drain away from the rest of the room. Suddenly very aware of not being alone, he turned...

"HANGING? I DO NOT SEE ANYONE HANGING. TRUST ME, I WOULD KNOW ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE THAT."

Feeling his legs go all wobbly, Patrick slumped down onto a chair and stared, wide eyed and mouth open.

The Librarian stepped up behind him at that moment and patted his head gently.

* * *

Jeannie shrugged when Jake asked about the magical field

I don't know if Patrick can put a spell on us or if it will work…I don't know anything about magic. All we can do is ask him I suppose

When he asked her to scratch his ear she smiled and knelt down besides him. She reached out and did as he had asked, talking as she did so

I think the escort is a good idea, and it should get them safely out of Uberwald. But I have to go with them as well or at the very least follow them soon after, I've been ordered to help Patrick get rid of the box. I'm his official escort

When Jake went quiet, so did Jeannie. She stooped scratching , nodded slowly when he spoke and replied in an equally soft voice, her hand resting on the back of Jakes neck

I know…

* * *

Mina giggled at the tail and then turned to Broc and added conversationally

'You can't break the box 'cos then all the magic might spill out so we can't use it.' She grabbed a jammy treat and quietly followed the wizard in hope of seeing more magic.

As she reached the library, she saw a skeleton speaking in big loud words though she didn't understand what he was talking about. She rushed up to the wizard

'I saw a skellington! I saw a skellington! I could see its bones!'

The wizard jumped nervously as she rushed noisily in, and seeing that he was looking more scared than anything else, she said

'Skellingtons aren't scary, silly!'

* * *

Patrick jumped out his skin when Mina spoke to him, "You can-

"YES,SHE CAN."

"But how does -

"SHE IS LIKE YOU IS SHE NOT? SHE IS MORE, POSSIBLY."

Relieved, slightly, that this wasn't a 'personal' visit, Patrick figured that the Librarian had arranged this.

"I thought -

"DON'T."

"THE LIBRARIAN HAS INFORMED ME OF YOUR POSITION. IT IS NOT NORMALLY MY PLACE TO GET INVOLVED, BUT I HAVE AN INTEREST IN HOW THIS IS RESOLVED"

Not wanting to interrupt further, Patrick sat there quietly, Mina standing next to him happily eating the jam and making faces at the Librarian.

"THE ARTIFACT IN QUESTION IS A MISTAKE. IT IS AN ABBERATION. THE GODS THOUGHT IT WOULD BE HELPFUL TO KEEP A RECORD OF ALL THE FAILED ATTEMPTS IN THE EARLY CREATION OF THE DISCWORLD. INSIDE THAT SMALL CONSTRUCTION ARE ALL OF THE POSSIBILITIES THAT MAY HAVE BEEN...OR COULD STILL BE."

"Like, in one instance I had toast this morning and in another I didn't?"

Death sighed. If it could be called a sigh. In all his time dealing with man he was still puzzled by their short-mindedness.

"SOMETHING LIKE THAT... YES. YOU MUST RETURN THAT BOX TO THE GREAT HALL. ONLY THEN WILL YOU BE SAFE. I CAN DO NO MORE FOR YOU."

Reaching into the never ending blackness that were his robes, Death took out a single small hourglass and gave it a gentle tap.

"I WILL BE SEEING YOU.....LATER."

With that, the light returned to the library and Patrick felt warmth creeping back over his skin.

Every possibility. Anything that could have happened or might still happen is inside that little box! Anything, everything. Entire countries, people, the Disc itself...all of it could be changed.

"Mina. I'm going to try to show you some more magic. Bigger magic. But first we must tell the others. Let's go find them shall we?"

* * *

So there they were, both facing one another and both in Igor's room. Jake realised he didn't want her to go with Patrick at least not alone. Jeannie was one of the few people that had been there when he needed her, not just this time but in their adventures a few months ago. The first time they had met, before they had even known one another's names Jeannie had thrown him a cloak when he was naked and confused on the streets of Sto Lat and had paid for him to stay in an Inn when he had no money AND she had leant him the clothes she could. They had been through a lot and Jake just didn't want her to go, but what could he say? She was a member of the watch she was duty bound and what hold did he have on her?

Besides, the horses were run pretty ragged getting here, they need a couple more days rest. Patrick could always try and start out with an escort with no coach but it might be tricky beyond the borders, not that I'm saying it is going to be easy anyway.

* * *

Jeannie looked into the lupine eyes before her, she kept her hand on him and was about to speak when he spoke first.

Jeannie nodded gratefully and smiled

That's right, a couple more days rest at least. No sense in rushing off unprepared is there?

She could feel the thick black fur on his neck under her hand and was inches away from his face, idly she wondered how many people had been so close to a werewolf without needing a change of underwear. Jeannie certainly didn't feel afraid as she looked into his eyes and sighed

It's not going to be easy at all even once we are out of Uberwald…Patrick thinks we should go to Cori Celesti. And I can't shake the feeling that Ridcully has got me sent on a suicide mission...how can we get rid of something that changes reality? Stupid bloody wizards, why can't they do their own dirty work?

Jeannie grumbled, crossing her legs infront of her and resting the elbow of her free hand on her absent mindedly ran her fingers through Jakes fur, then realised she was doing it and stopped. Jeannie sighed as she thought about what little was known about the mission infront of herself, Patrick and Mina.

* * *

Broc felt his head spinning. Things were going to crazy. Finally Broc got angry yanked open the door pulled the Box out of Patricks bag, ran to the front door and chunked it. He ran back to where Jeannie was.

"There i got rid of the Box. Can we go home now? This place is driving me insane...And im a zombie."

* * *

Snuffles suddendlt stopped in mid-stand, stood straight like a hunting dog who has just smelled a new... well, smell, and darted into the library.

He arrived just in the moment when it lit up again. The huge cat skidded to a halt, dropped unto all fours and started poking his nose into various corners of the room, sniffing.

'Meow! / Untranslatable cat swear / meow mee / he must have left something! / meow mee moo meow mew / i know him for a long time after all...' he muttered, just before poking his head from under a bookcase. It was soon followed by the rest of the body.

Snuffles dusted himself off, and opened the black satchel he held firmly in his paw. Some things which looked just like kitty biscuits rolled in his paw. It was a shame they were all black and skull-shaped.

Nevertheless, he gulped them all down in one go, and stood there, in the middle of the room, staring dreamily at the wall.

* * *

Twilight stood there, open-mouthed.

Just like that? she thought. That's how he tries to solve our problem? If anything that's only gonna make it worse!

She got a grip on herself and opened her mouth again to tell the zombie off, when Snuffles made his run for the library. Running on her cat instincts, which were depleting the longer she stayed anywhere near that box, Twilight turned and ran after him, but quickly fell behind as she only had two legs to use.

Twilight finally caught up with him in time to see him eating what looked like little black skulls. And suddenly, she could feel her whiskers as if they were actually there again. She reached up to her face with her hand..nothing, but they were there, in a sense. Apparently, being away from the box could lessen the effects, but only by so much.

So, her whiskers were there, without being there, and they were twitching. Something had just been here. Twilight looked around the room, but found nothing, nothing but the feeling of supernatural debris, as if leftover by a greater force. She was genuinely confused, so she turned to Patrick.

"Wha-what happened in here?" she said in a daze. Her ears, her real ears, were flicking, as well, although unseen, but felt

* * *

A werewolf was no dog and people who had compared them to one often found themselves unable to stop themselves from leaking or perhaps with fewer limbs than they would be completely happy with. Jake had never let anyone stroke him before, but he found that he really didn't mind in Jeannie's case, and there was no one else around anyway.

It changes reality? I don't like the sound of that at all. Surely if it can change reality all bets are off. What if it decides to change reality so that we were born unable to shift? Or decides to take the Wizards magic away then what do we do? Is there not a way of making it create a reality in which it doesn't exist?"

Jake was getting into dangerous ground here and concentrating on these sorts of concepts in wolf form was taking a great deal of effort. Thoughts of food and cocking his leg against a tree were certainly trying to crowd in more insistently than before.

* * *

I know, I've had similar worries about the damn box. I don't mind admitting that the idea of travelling with this thing fills me with a fair amount of worry

If Jeannie was the sort of person who could admit a weakness she would have replaced the word 'worry' with 'fear', however she wasn't the sort of person who would easily admit she was frightend of anything and so the only clue to her fear was her eyes, just for a few moments, when she let herself dwell on what exactly could happen on the mission ahead of her. She quickly banished those thoughts, regained her usual confidence and stood up.

I think talking to Patrick is the best way forward, he is more at home with this stuff than I am...And I could also do with some breakfast at some point today

she added as a small growl came from the depths of her empty stomach

* * *

"In here? Uh, well, nothing happened per se, but I did get to talk to someone. A fairly ethereal someone. Maybe that's what your sensing."

Walking now with Twilight and Mina, he caught sight of Jeannie and the four headed back to the kitchen.

Looking Jeannie in the eye, he figured this couldn't be good news - but at least they had some more information.

"I just a chat with, er...well, someone. He gave me something to think about. It turns out that Ridcully's present is a very bad idea made manifest. It is the receptacle for every possible reality on the Discworld. I don't know...maybe the whole universe."

Patrick relayed the conversation as best he could to Twilight and Jeannie, feeling the tension rise as each minute passed.

"He said we had to return it to the 'great hall', but I'm not entirely sure how to go about doing that."

Casting his eyes around the room he saw his bag, open and on its side.

"Wha-

A quick search told him exactly 'wha-'.

"It's gone! The box is gone! It was here, right in here!"

* * *

"I tried to stop him but I couldn't!!" Mark shouted to Patrick.

Patrick turned trying to locate the the voice he had just heard. Mark realised he must be becoming whole again, at least they could hear him now.

"If anyone is interested, I think I saw a Hersheba spy outside too, unfortunately, I couldn't do anything about it" Mark said sadly, knowing that the box could be miles away by now.

Mark sat on a chair and promptly ended up in the chair sitting on the floor.

* * *

Jeannie left Igors room, and was on her way to the kitchen when she met up with Patrick, Mina and Twilight. Once back in the kitchen she listened very carefully to what Patrick had to say, still holding his gaze she replied

"So what we are facing, basically speaking, is a long and almost certainly perilous journey with an object that is capable of doing pretty much what ever it wants all because the Gods had a bad idea when they made this thing?"

Her belly gurgled again, and she went into the pantry, found a plate of cold meats and began to chew whilst thinking thing over, after a few moments she looked back at Patrick.

"This '*significant pause* someone' that you spoke to, they told you to take this thing to 'the great hall'? Well if the gods made this thing then surely the gods can control it or destroy it? So maybe what they meant is we need to go to Dunmanifestin?"

Jeannie stopped there because she really didn't like where this conversation was heading, then Patrick noticed the absence of the box from his bag. Shortly afterwards something else caught her attention, not only had she heard a faint voice but she could catch the faintest whiff of a scent. It was a scent she knew, Jeannie sniffed around a bit and found a point where it was strongest.

"Mark? I can just about hear you, I think I'm standing right next to you. Try speaking again"

When he mentioned the spy, Jeannie frowned in puzzlement

"Hersheban spy? Out here? Of course! why not!? I expect the King of Hersheba wants the Box of the Gods!"

It was said in sarcastic jest, but the more she thought about it, the quicker a cold feeling ran over her skin

She looked around at the others

"Where exactly is the box?"

Jeannie was told what had happened and sighed, she threw an angry look at Broc before speaking

"Then I guess some of us had better go outside and see what we can find"

* * *

Jake huffed and waited a few moments before following Jeannie and the others into the Kitchen, consequently he only caught that last part of the conversation.

The box has gone? GREAT it's someone else's problem now

He realised that this might seem a little short sighted, but on the other hand it did mean that vanishing Assassin's, giant cats, human shaped tailed werewolves and broken legs might become a thing of the past.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to leave the embassy before they realised their mistake and decided to bring it back

He was well aware that his contributions were nothing more than a sequence of gestures, growl and yips to everyone except Mina and Jeannie, but it certainly didn't stop him from making his feelings known.

* * *

"Who are you talking to? Mark? What about the box? Where'd it go?"

Now he'd done it. He'd only had the thing almost a day and now it was gone. This could be bad.

Did she say outside?

"It's outside? How did it get outside? Oh man."

Making a run for the front door, Patrick knew it wouldn't be that easy. It wouldn't be laying on the ground within sight of the door. It wouldn't glint in the sunlight. It wouldn't be floating in a puddle.

It wasn't.

What was there and rapidly moving away was a figure on horseback.

In a rush, Patrick closed his eyes, rubbed his hands together furiously and released a dozen small glowing orbs down the trail towards the rider.

As each orb impacted along the trail, explosions sent dirt and pebbles into the air, shredding trees and bushes in the way. WHUMP - WHUMP - Ka-WHUMP!

Running towards the gate, he hoped to see the rider laying face down in the road. Instead, he saw the rider intact, disappearing around the bend.

"Dammit! Dammit!"

* * *

Broc realized the error of his mistake as he followed Patrick. Rushing around he found a lump of ginger(theres always some around if a hero needs it). Grabbing one of the coach horses he lifted up its tail- well you get the picture. Broc held on, while the horse sped in the same general direction of the runaway figure. He grabbed Patrick as he went past.

"Hang on!"

* * *

Jeannie was about to move towards the door herself when Patrick ran outside followed by Broc.

She looked down at the still wolf shaped Jake

I want to agree with you…but I have to go after the thing, I'm under orders

And so she did run after the others, once outside the embassy she saw the distant rider and the shape of Patrick and Broc on one of the coach horses gaining a fair amount of speed. Realising she would fare better in her wolf shape Jeannie shifted and was soon sprinting after the two horses, her tongue lolling out of her mouth as she panted hard with the massive exertion needed to try and catch up with the riders

* * *

Mark ran to the door but aware that he wouldn't be able to do anything just stood there and watched. He leaned against the door frame and contemplated what to do next. Then he noticed he could make contact with the door frame.

"YES!!! I'm back!" shouted Mark, punching the air but then hoping nobody had noticed. It was hardly fitting behaviour for an assassin

He turned and ran up the stairs to the top of the Embassy to the clacks tower.

* * *

Jake stood as most of the little group disappeared from the kitchen and he was left alone with A giant cat, a woman who used to be a cat and a girl who could talk to animals…Jake looked at each in turn and then began to sniff around the kitchen half heartedly before wandering into the cold room and worrying a haunch of meat. As far as he was concerned the Box could be taken by whoever wanted it, as long as it was away form him that would be great. Besides, he'd not had breakfast yet and he wasn't going to think about anything until he had got some food inside of him.

Oblivious to all he used nature's gifts to sheer of meat like butter, exposing nothing but bone beneath. He felt thoroughly justified, he was still hurting from having Igor messing with his leg and eating took his mind off it.

It's just a shame it's not bleeding

The thought came suddenly and took him aback for a moment, but he recovered and continued to eat.

* * *

Intent only on the racing figure on horseback Jeannie sprinted after the spy, after a while it became harder to keep up the pace but she pushed herself to keep going. Her chance came when the rider attempted to jump a fallen tree, the horse balked and Jeannie seized the opportunity to catch it. She raced up to the animal and snapped at its heels, resulting in the horse rearing in terror and the rider being thrown clean off the beast, the box landed a short distance from the rider.

The horse bolted as Jeanie stood over the spy, growling in a way that said very clearly Don't move!

The spy obviously didn't understand canine as he did move, and very suddenly, but stopped again when Jeannie's teeth snapped only millimetres infront of his face.

Jeannie was aware of the sound of the horse with Patrick and Broc very close to her but was distracted by the scent of blood, sourcing the scent she looked down at the ground

That's a hell of a lot of blood, he didn't fall off that badly!

was her first thought, then when she saw the blood running down her front leg and the pain from the knife that the spy had thrust into her ribs finally registered in her adrenaline flooded brain, her second thought was

Oh…that's not good

She had no idea how close the others were, or if they had recovered the box but her body finally succumbed and began to shut down to try and heal such a serious injury. She recognised the burning pain deep inside the wound, and her last thought before everything faded to black dark dreams was

Silver knife? You bastard……

* * *

Broc brought the horse to stop as he saw the knive go into Jeannie.

"NO!"

Broc knew this was all his fault. and the anger began to well up inside of him. And he was in very close proximity to the Box.

"Patrick get the Box!"

Broc voice changed pitch as he transformed. The last thing Broc remembered seeing before the rage took over was the plain fear in the spys face as Brocs hand reached to slam him against the tree.

Several times.....until nothing was left of the spys head.

* * *

Patrick scrambled to grab the box from where it had fallen and initially didn't see what Broc was doing to the spy until it was too late. He saw the wolf that was Jeannie lying on the ground and the wound on her leg.

A silver knife?

Seeing broc still in a rage, Patrick figured he needed to get his attention on something else and quick!

"Broc! Get Jeannie back to the Embassy and find Igor!"

He didn't now how far from the Embassy they were, but he knew he wouldn't be able to carry her the whole way. Broc might, but that would take too much time.

"Try to throw her over the horse and ride, quickly!"

Patrick didn't want to approach her, not while the box was here and she was injured. Jake was apparently in a bad way because of this thing and he didn't want Jeannie in the same state.

"I'll follow, shortly. We need to get her away from this damned box!"

The horse that had carried the spy was disappearing further down the trail; Patrick wasn't looking for a ride, he was more concerned about losing any information that he could have found.

Still slightly out of breath from the chase and the excitement, he kept his distance and tried to calm down.

The box disappeared inside his robes.

* * *

Everything was dark, it felt like being deep under water. Sounds were muffled and distorted, and everything felt soft and weightless. A few times Jeannie tried to push her way towards the sounds, but a horrible burning pain sent her back to the peaceful dark where there was no pain, only dreams.

Unbeknown to Jeannie she was on a horse, with Broc spurring it back towards the embassy. She was still bleeding from the knife wound in her chest, if she had been conscious she would have felt the burning with every shallow breath. In her dark sleep she was faintly aware of a shock of white hot pain as she was pulled off the horse at the embassy gates, but it soon faded into the depths of the dreams

* * *

Mark jumped out of the way as the horse galloped past him through the gates of the Embassy. He noticed Jeannie lying over the horse and a look of urgency on Broc's face.

"What's happened? Where's the wizard?" he called out after them, running to catch up.

Broc briefed all those still there while they carried Jeannie inside.

"IG...!" shouted Mark as Igor stepped out in front of him, "How do you do that?" he said quietly.

* * *

Broc grabbed Igor and shoved him toward Jeannie.

"FIX HER!!!"

Broc was panicking. He didnt mean for this to happen.

"Mark! Take the horse and go get Patrick. The rest of us will start search the compound for anyother nasty surprises.

* * *

It was the smell that had Jake appearing only slightly behind Igor, the smell that all werewolf noses are particularly attuned to. It seemed stupid to hope that his nose would be wrong, but this he did as the smell was that of Jeannie's blood and it was strong which usually meant there was a lot. When he saw the limp figure of the blond wolf with the crimson matted fur concern, panic and rage fought so fiercely between themselves for control of his brain that he appeared completely impassive. He remained in this state as Igor, showing a surprising strength for his size and ignoring, as best he could, Broc's panic, he picked Jeannie up gently and went off.

As Broc and Mark went off to look around the Embassy and doubtless the grounds, Jake stood still, his friend's blood still clogging his nostrils. Allowing himself a quiet whine now that no one was around, he turned and walked towards Igor's room. Once their he saw Igor trying to stem the flow of blood and looking to see if any of the major organs had been pierced. Jake paced slowly around the room, looking at the table from all angles.

You're such an idiot

He said talking at her rather than expecting any sort of reply.

Gods! Did you throw all caution to the wind? Did you not pay attention to what your nose was telling you?

He flopped onto the floor blocking the doorway, he was angry at her for being stupid enough for getting herself hurt.

* * *

Jeannie's consciousness floated peacefully, she had a overwhelming urge to stay in this dark peaceful state. It required no effort, and whenever her mind tried to surface from the dark there was pain, terrible pain so it was easier to stay here in the dreams, away from the pain…..

Muffled sounds filtered through but they were of no consequence. They were nothing to do with her now….It would be of no importance if she sank further into the dark. No pain, no feeling, just dark sleep………

idiot….throw all caution….

A voice… It was as muffled as the others but seemed to pierce the dark, it caught her attention and again her mind tried to surface from the dreams, then the pain came. A horrible burning pain with every breath, this time she stayed with the pain. That voice…Jake?

Jeannie tried to speak but her mouth felt dry and not quite under her control, she could feel someone touching the burning place in her chest. It hurt!

She yelped, it sounded strange in her ears and the sleep still held her but it wasn't so deep now…….a soft whine escaped her

If Jeannie had been awake she would have been aware of Igor stemming the blood, the knife had grazed her lung but she had been very lucky and what could have been a lethal injury was, although still serious, probably not going to kill her. The others had got her to Igor before she had bled to death, the knife hadn't pierced any organs and her powerful werewolf body was already beginnning to gradually heal the damage making breathing easier.

* * *

When he heard the groggy half whine, like someone realising that they were able to do so but unsure as to how they were supposed to do it, he stood up and assumed the air of concerned friend rather than panicked, frightened and worried friend. He watched as Igor cleaned and dressed the wound, although there had been a great deal of blood loss there was no permanent damage.

What sort of an idiot goes tearing off without thinking?

He said, in what he hoped was a rebuking tone rather than a relieved one. He wasn't sure if Jeannie could hear him, but it made him feel better thinking that she could. At least he couldn't see death around, that had to be a good sign right?

Gods! I'm surprised you survived past being a cub. I've only seen you a couple of days and already you've got yourself seriously wounded

* * *

Breathing was still a painful effort but Jeannie felt herself beginning to wake up. Perhaps this was fuelled by the growing anger at Jakes words or just at the anger at herself because she knew he was right. She had been careless, and had nearly been killed as a result

A few minutes went by of Jeannie slipping in and out of consciousness before she managed to finally hold onto being awake, groggily she half opened one eye and saw a blurry black shape, his scent confirmed it was Jake. Her eyes focused on his face and her voice was hoarse but, she managed a smile as she spoke, panting with the effort or breathing through the pain

And I'm sure you would never get yourself hurt by being careless…how's the leg by the way?

She was sure Jake would pick up on the rebuke. Shakily Jeanie tried to move, a white hot fire spread through her chest, she whined and Igor hurried over

"No no mithreth, you mutht not move jutht yet! You are very lucky to be alive, if that knife had been thightly more to the left even my thkillth would not have been enough."

Igors words made her go cold, feeling the throbbing of the stab wound in her chest she looked back at Jake. She didn't think she had ever been so glad to be a werewolf and to be able to heal so quickly, but that didn't take away the knowledge that this room could have easily become a morgue if things had happened slightly differently

I really thought I was going to die

she managed to whisper

* * *

Jake turned away, aware that she must still be under, but when she spoke he felt a traitorous excitement and relief.

My leg is a totally different situation.

Well at least she was making jokes, that had to be a good sign.

Well if you had died it would have been pretty selfish, I mean, who would translate for me?

He must have stunk of relief, but he didn't care or at least was to glad that she was okay to care.

Well anyway, reckless or not, which it was, at least your…okay.

He said trying to sound grudging

You're going to have a scar, I'm sure it will make you look very tough

* * *

Jeannie watched Jake carefully as he spoke and she grinned, she could see he was relieved despite his words

Well, as long as you still have your translator than I guess everything is ok

She shifted slightly and winced, if she had been focused enough she might have realised that she was healing well and that the box hadn't affected her abilities like it had with Jake

I know…I was careless and I payed the price, you've made your point. Now I don't really want to talk about it anymore

She settled down into a comfortable position

A scar? I think I can live with that…which is more than I thought I'd be doing back there

Curling up she looked again at the large black wolf infront of her. She was glad he was here, being so close to death had really scared her. That in itself felt strange, fear wasn't something that Jeannie had felt very often. Headstrong, impetuous, stubborn…a lot of words could be used to describe Jeannie but cowardly wasn't one of them. One of the things that made her a good watch officer was that she saw a task ahead of her and just did what was needed regardless of the risk. One of the things that would have made her a much better watch officer was if she learnt to assess the risks before jumping in. Perhaps from now on she might be a little less hasty in the face of danger, or than again perhaps not

Are the others all ok?

* * *

Suddendly, all of the other persons which were, oddly enough, following him all the time, started acting all agitated and important. Again.

Snuffles felt a strong urge to do something else than just loaf around, so he started wandering aimlessly around and looked for some interesting ... stuff.

He stopped abruptly, in a doorway and looked at what was on the table. Well, well, fancy that! / Meow Me me Meow! He walked over to the table, and picked the strange object up for inspection, when something else caught his eye.

* * *

Patrick stood, for how long he didn't know, alongside the road where they had caught up with the spy. The wind played in the tall grasses where the body lay; walking over to it, he looked for anything that would be of help.

I won't find anything if he was any good. He....

Is just another problem. He is just another cog of the wheel that started turning right after this mess raised it's ugly head.

I'm not getting anywhere with this and the longer it takes to destroy this thing the more danger...

The wind picked up a little more, blowing leaves and sand across the trail. Branches beg to sway with a purpose.

But that's it isn't it? Destroy the box? Why? Rincewind and Ridcully may have been afraid of this, but everyone knows I'm a better wizard! I'm better! That's why they gave it to me! They knew I could handle it!

A dust devil kicked up, swirling his robes around him and Patrick felt the energy rising.

That had to be it! He was chosen because he alone was strong enough!

Why let the power control us...me, when I can control it instead?

Without having to close his eyes or concentrate, Patrick was at once standing back in his house in Ecalpon, walking along a river bank on the Counterweight Continent, standing on a mountain top on some unamed world as the great A'Tuin soared overhead in the night sky.

I will control it!

With a single thought he was now standing outside the gates of the Embassy; smiling to himself, he entered the grounds and made his way to the others.

Everything will be put right. Everyone will be whole.

* * *

Broc finished searching the grounds when he saw patrick come in through the gates.

"Patrick. You dont have to worry, Jeannie will be fine, Jakes with her now and-"

Broc couldnt understand it but Patrick had a...a...Aura around him. Thats when Broc noticed the Box in Patricks hand.

"Oh sh-"

and started to reach for his sword.

* * *

Twilight looked around and realized now that she was alone. She looked down at her dress and sneered.

Well, this form isn't going to do at all, she thought. Now that the box has been away from me, maybe I can....

Twilight concentarted hard..harder..HARDER Finally, something inside of her, a muscle or a nerve, twitched, and she could feel herself changing.

When she opened her eyes, they were her eyes, her real eyes. Emerald green, barely hinting a yellow tint. She looked down and made sure that she was all there.

Paws, tail, whiskers, and ears..Yup, that's about it Suddenly filled with uncontainable joy, Twilight bounded out of the room, and pranced all around the embassy. She jumped and ran and danced and meowed with joy, at least until she hit a wall. She sat there, dizzy, and her head spinning, but she was happy

* * *

Snuffles just walked out of the room. He had picked up lots of handy objects (depending on your point of view). These humans didnt know how lucky they were to have all this stuff around.

He had a smoking pipe inbetween his teeth, a teatray on one paw, laden with teacups overflowing with ... tea, a curtain (with some sort of cow-pattern) flung around his shoulders and trailing behind him like a cape and a large book in his other paw, entitled: 'The Bits-Of-Air-Spotters Beginners Manual'.

All this time he was singing, alternating the dominating vocal cords, without noticing.

Oh, there was Twilight, in her cat form. Snuffles walked over to congratulate her on this achievement (he was in a good mood) and started saying:

'Jolly Good, For I See You... / Meow meow Mee meow me-...' (he spoke in a foreign-ish accent)

when he let out a very loud 'Meow!' and started to wobble. No, he corrected himself, bits of him started to wobble. He was... shrinking! Just when he found out how fun it was walking on two legs! But he would resist! Who did it think it was, whatever 'it' was, turning him back to an average cat!

After a considerable amount of wobbling (and dropping of heap of tea-cups), his body settled with remaining in his normal form.

'Thats better! / Meow Meow!'

* * *

Twilight flinched as the teacups crashed to the ground. Carefully avoiding the broken shards of teacup on the floor, she looked up at the quite literal cat burgelar.

Snuffy, she mocked, I know you're learning the finer points of looting and all, but I think you may have gone just a bit overboard She wathched as he finally stopped wobbling. And I think you're morphic field is a bit out of whack

Twilight seemed to have another thought, as she turned on Snuffles a devious smirk

I'm sure Igor would love to take care of it for you

* * *

Jeannie lay on the table in Igors room, not wanting to move too much but feeling frustrated that she was incapacitated. This was made worse by knowing it could have been avoided if she had just been a bit more cautious

Feeling completely fed up she was about to try another attempt to stand up when a change in the air gave her pause

There was nothing dramatic, just a very subtle feeling that the atmosphere was slightly more charged than before and her werewolf eyes picked up the tiniest traces of octarine light flashing in the air

Something was obviously happening somewhere in the building, and now Jeannie felt even more frustrated and, even worse, vulnerable. She couldn't even get off the damn table!

* * *

Mina had been confused, everyone seemed to have gone off. She was on the point of following them out of the embassy when she was distracted by the Librarian, who indicated that this would not be a good idea, and then led her to the library. The skelington was still there looking a bit lost. The librarian put a finger up to his lips and pointed at it. As they were watching, the skeleton vanished and for a moment, Mina could see a different room behind him full of hourglasses. She gasped in surprise and was about to start chattering about it when she heard a noise at the front door.

Mina walked hesitantly down towards the sound. When she eventually got to the door, the noise had stopped and she could just see an upset looking Broc standing there. As she watched, The Wizard appeared by him holding the box and looking a bit strange. Broc said something about Jeannie and the abruptly got his sword out. He was going to attack the Wizard and the box again!

Mina ran up and grabbed the box from the wizard. As she did so, he lost his strange look. Instead he suddenly looked confused and bewildered.

'You can't attack the box.' said Mina definitely.

* * *

Patrick was so focused on Broc that he hadn't seen Mina run up. She grabbed the box before he could react and then...he felt really tired.

"Mina,....be..careful with that will you?"

He could have done it couldn't he? Really controlled the box?

The box.

"Mina, listen, go to the library and wait for me there okay?"

This was getting dangerous. He was going to have to try to contain the box somehow in order to dampen its ability to wreak havoc.

Going back to the kitchen he grabbed his bag and then proceeded to the library. Consulting his notebook for a minute and finding nothing uselful, he decided there was only thing to do - guess.

Placing the box on the floor inside of a hastily drawn chalk circle, Patrick sat down outside of the line and motioned for Mina to join him.

"Remember the orbs Mina? Remember how I told you to imagine the orb and what you wanted it do? Well, that was a simple explanation. Orbs are energy and we surrounded by all sorts of it. What you did was release it, in small packets and set it free."

Trying to explain this next bit as he worked it out in his head was going to be tough enough. How to explain it to a six year old was going to imp-

"Now what we need to do is contain energy. A hard thing to do sometimes. Mina, close you eyes. I want you to imagine the worst, most scariest thing you know of - a monster maybe - something that really scares you."

Patrick could do that easily. He would be ashamed to admit all the things that frightened him and how easily he let himeslf be scared at times.

"Now I want you to imagine that the thing that scares you the most is inside that box! it is in there and trying to get out! Right now! But, you won't let it! You are keeping that monster locked up in the box! It can't get out!"

As he explained to her what he needed her to do, Patrick also imagined and shivered at the thought. He too imagined the nightmare being caught in the box, unable to escape.

If they did it correctly, the effects of the box should be diminished, things should return to normal for everyone.

How long it would stay like that, he didn't know. He did know that having Mina help him would be very effective though; children didn't know they couldn't do something until some silly adult told them they couldn't....

* * *

Mark moved through the grounds silently. By keeping to the shadows and overgrown foliage he completed his sweep without finding anything out of the ordinary. He walked back inside to find out how Jeannie was.

"Ig..oh, there you are, how is the Sergeant?"

"The blood hath thtopped thir, thhe will recover by nightfall"

"Nightfall" Mark murmured to himself and then his eyes went wide as something dawned on him

"Jake!!" He noticed the wolf in the study, "What are the chances of those rogue wolves attacking again? I don't think we can hold them off a second time without getting help. We have a few hours until the sun begins to set" Mark stopped talking. He wouldn't be able to understand Jake's reply anyway. Jeannie was supposed to be resting and he had no clue where Mina had gone.

* * *

Broc sighed when Mina took the Box. He really didnt want to fight Patrick.

"Of course Mina, i shouldnt attack Box."

He followed Patrick and whatched as Patrick told Mina what to do. He encourged Mina.

"C'mon Mina, I belive in you"

He gave her a wan smile

* * *

Stuck on the table in Igors room Jeannie listened to Mark and watched him as he walked out again. Once he had left she looked down at Jake

Why does he think that we know what the feral wolves are going to do?

She was getting fed up already, and decided enough was enough. If there was any threat from the feral wolves she damn well wanted to try and do something about it. She began to stand, feeling the wound protesting and filling her chest with fire, but she was only stopped by Igor rushing over.

"Mithreth I mutht protetht! You mutht retht if you want to be recovered thoon!"

Jeannie sank back down onto the table, grumbling quietly in canine, she was not a good patient when it involved being incapacitated

* * *

Jake watched mark speaking and concentrated to the best of his ability, but he hadn't quite understood everything. Luckily his ignorance could go without notice as Jeannie spoke to him in canine and he managed to piece the previous sentence together.

We look like wolves and they look like wolves, as much as people say they do, there is never a differentiation.

He moved closer as Jeannie tried to stand, but he was beaten to it by Igor. How the hell did they always manage to be everywhere at once? It was uncanny. Jake was about to speak again when a burning pain in his leg, like nothing he had ever experienced before caused him to fall to the ground bonelessly. Any werewolf is used to pain, it's what happens when you can fix yourself so easily, you tend to be a little rougher, but Jake could not remember ever feeling anything like this. Managing to look back he could see the bones in his leg writhing and flowing like jelly. As soon as it occurred though, it stopped and the pain vanished. Getting cautiously to his feet Jake placed his injured leg to the ground and winced expectantly, but there was no pain. Moving quickly he disappeared behind a convenient counter and for the first time in two days re-appeared in human form.

"thir." Igor said appeared with a spare set of clothes and Jake realised that his families own Igor was definitely worth the money.

The clothes were comfortable and flattering to his human form, they were nice clothes, already he had a foreboding that they would be shredded in a few days. Walking over to Jeannie he looked at her

You look quite sweet all curled up like that

He smiled good naturedly.

I could carry you out of here if you'd like, it would keep Igor happy and you'd not be straining your injury. I mean you translated for me, so I guess it's my turn to return the favour

* * *

Snapped out of her grumbling by Jakes sudden collapse Jeannie automatically tried to get up at the sight of her friend in pain but hadn't got further than tensing her muscles when he stood back up and she saw that his leg was fully healed. So many strange things had happened lately that this didn't shock her as easily as it should have

Jeannie lay there, curled up on the table and feeling helpless and frustrated. Wishing the same super-fast healing would happen to her own wounds she watched Jake return in human form.

She was still feeling fed up and was about to make a grumpy retort when he spoke to her but she looked up at him and his smile changed that, her expression softened as she replied

Sweet? I think it's very likely that you are the first and only person who has ever called me that…and thankyou, I'd be very grateful if you would get me out of this room

Accepting Jakes offer to carry her did fuel the feeling of helplessness but it was the only way she was going to get out of Igors room with his strange jars and horribly organic smell, so she stayed still and allowed Jake to lift her

* * *

Broc left Mina and Patrick and started walking down hall when He saw Jake carrying Jeannie the other way. Broc just quirked his eyebrows and nodded as he went past.

He walked out to the front of the emmbassy. and watched the setting sun. Then the voice came from shawdows.

"Long time no see Broc."

Broc had his sword halfway out as he swung around but something impossibly strong gripped his wrist.

"Now, Now, Broc you wouldnt want to hurt an old friend from the gang."

Then the voice clicked in Broc's head.

" Traq! "

"Yes Broc, Its me. Its all your friends from the undead gang."

Broc was slowly shoved backwards until Traq stood in daylight. Broc noticed several other zombies behind him.

"We hear, Broc, That your carrying a very powerful magical object, and we could always use something powerful. Now where is it."

Broc hesitated a second then said.

"Youll never get it."

and spit in Traq's face. Traq smiled and said

"Bad choice."

And threw Broc througn the door into the emmbassy. Before the gang set on him, Broc got one word out.

"RUN!!!"

* * *

Mina looked up at Broc before attempting what Patrick had asked of her.

'You can't attack the box, or it'll break, and the world will fill up with big, big, bad!' She explained earnestly.

Mina tried hard to think of something scary, she was scared of being alone, she was scared of being hit, pinched or shouted at, but these weren't things you could easily put into a box. Mina was scared of the bad men, who, as her mother had told her, would think nothing of pulling her into an alley-way and chopping her up into bits and sell the bits as meat to restaurants. But most of all, she decided, she was scared of Mrs Jessel because she hadn't met these men yet, but she had met mrs Jessel.

Mrs Jessel lived in the room next door to Mina and her mother, she had few teeth and smelt funny all the time (Mina's mother said she stank of gin) but sometimes, when it was too cold for Mina to stay out all day while her mother worked, she had to stay with Mrs Jessel who would grin manically at her and try to get her to drink something that tasted horrible and made Mina feel ill when she was in a good mood, and would attack Mina and chase her with a stick or a broom until Mina's mother came back when she was in a bad mood.

'Mrs. Jessel's in the box' she announced, and tried to follow the wizard's instructions. As she did so, she felt the box become just a box again and nothing more.

Suddenly they heard the shout of 'Run!'

Mina grabbed the box and ran all the way up to the library, she wasn't going to let anyone let Mrs Jessel out.

* * *

Patrick had just felt a slight change in the box when Broc shouted and Mina ran for the Library.

If something was bad enough to make Broc shout like that then Patrick knew it had to be bad.

Running out to the hall he caught sight of several more zombies in the Embassy and one had apparently focused on the form of Mina running away.

"No you don't!"

Gathering his thoughts, Patrick made a solid wall of wood and stone grow up out of the foundation, closing off the hallway from the group of zombies.

Turning towards the Library, he dropped several glowing orbs on the floor behind him as he ran and caught up with Mina.

"Stay by the stack of books my dear! If anyone gets past me, call out to the nice Librarian! He'll come for you!"

If we've done this right, then the box won't be able to interfere with anyone and they should all be right again.

He figured Broc could hold his own against a couple of the zombies and Mark might be able to handle a couple himself. If Jake healed he could more than handle himself....

I'm not sure about Jeannie though, that was a pretty bad wound. I hope this damn box didn't affect her as well.

Just as he figured he'd thought of everybody, he remembered....

The cats!

He may have to venture out to find them, but that would mean leaving Mina and he'd sworn to keep her safe!

Not good! Not good!

He was at a loss; on one hand he knew he couldn't leave them out there, but then again, he'd never known a cat that couldn't survive just about anything thrown at it.

"CATS ARE NICE."

"Oh, gods! I wish you wouldn't sneak up on me like that!"

"HOW SHOULD I SNEAK THEN?"

"Huh? Wha- oh never mind! Listen, you said you had a personal interest in how this all turned out?"

"I DID. I DO."

"Well, I may have to ask you to interfere a bit here for the cause."

"I CANNOT. I CAN POINT YOU IN CERTAIN DIRECTIONS, BUT I CANNOT HELP BEYOND THAT."

"Fat load of good you are!"

* * *

Twilight would have continued her taunting of Snuffles, but somehow the terrified cry of a zombie made feel that something was up. Her first instinct, of course, was to run away. And so she did. As she began to run, she called out to Snuffles.

Snuffles, you idiot, drop your loot and run!!

She ran on, hoping the black cat had the sense to listen to her. Eventually, she caught site of Mina and Patrick, not noticing the army of zombies until she was already to far to turn around and run away

I'm beginning to wonder why I hang around with you people

* * *

Snuffles looked around and spotted an obviously hostile zombie. Sure of himself, he charged, ducked under a blow, rose behing the zombie and, with one mighty bound, buried his fangs in the zombies neck.

Grinning he looked around victoriously and thought about how to carry the body to one of the others and drop it on the floor in front of them, proudly.

This was such a puzzler that he didnt even notice the zombie get ready to punch.

Snuffles was running after where he remembered Twilight to have fled. After all, the blow had propelled him into a wall, and the fact that he had instinctively grabbed a curtain on his way, thus triggering a complex, and possibly humorous, chain of reactions which demolished half the room, didnt help his morale.

* * *

Mark saw Broc come back through the door.

"You do realise there is a handle?" he quipped. Then he saw several other zombies not looking too happy. He wasn't sure what a zombie looked like when it was happy but this was definitely not it. He helped Broc to his feet and withdrew his sword.

"Broc, I think it's about time you told me how to kill the un-dead, otherwise it will really put a dampener on this quest"

* * *

Broc grabbed his sword and got in typical fighting postion and swung.

The oppossing zombie's head fell off. The body crumbled.

"No head, No body control!"

Broc launched himself at the group.

"YOUR MINE TRAQ!!!!"

* * *

A well muscled werewolf is a heavy thing to try and lift and Jeannie was a well muscled werewolf. Luckily so was Jake and he managed to lift her, going so far as to do it tenderly. The closeness of a female and the smell of blood suddenly made the wolf jump to his forebrain and it was an effort to get himself back under control, perhaps this had not been a great idea, but he seemed to be okay now. As he started for the door he heard Broc's shout and instantly became cautious. He moved slowly towards the doorway and peaked out, there was another zombie looking into a room and started running down the corridor when he so no one there. Jake ducked back Igor's lab.

Life is never boring around you and your charges.

With a perfect timing Jake stuck out his foot. The zombie's foot stayed where it was, but the rest of it went flying down the corridor, as it landed its arms and legs chose that moment to burst their stitches and the zombie was left wit ha wildly thrashing head that was struggling to get back all the various dropped limbs.

"Wow, that looks fairly pathetic."

Let me take you out of here, somewhere a little safer where you can recover.

It was an ingenuous thought, but at the end of the day he felt little loyalty for these people who he had known so briefly he owed Jeannie a great deal though so he supposed if she wanted to stay he could do little about it and would have to stay to.

* * *

Jeannie was slightly surprised by, but also grateful for, the gentle way in which Jake lifted her. The movement caused a little pain but nothing worth complaining about. She could feel his muscles against her as he effortlessly took her weight and his scent seemed to envelop her.

She managed to keep her mind on the situation in hand though, especially when it became apparent that they were now under attack by a gang of zombies. Watching the zombie who had met with Jakes foot thrashing its scattered bits around Jeannie thought hard about what to do.

She was supposed to be protecting Patrick and Mina, she should stay here. It was her duty, and she felt repelled at the idea of leaving a child behind…but how much use could she be to them right now? She couldn't fight or shift, or even walk at the moment, until the wound had healed. True this wouldn't take long but time wasn't on their side at the moment…the building was under siege, they all had to leave…and she couldn't help anybody right now.

Jeannie sighed, which is a rather unusual sound for a wolf, rested her head against Jake and replied quietly

Okay, let's go. I just hope the others have the sense to get out of here as soon as they can...

* * *

Jake nodded and for a moment stayed perfectly still. Finally coming to some decision he took off down the corridor only to be met with a group of zombies. There was a comical pause, as there always in these situations when two unusual parties meet. Jake recovered more quickly and turned tail, running back up the corridor. Standing in his way was a grimly set zombie. Of course momentum and the weight of two wolves was on his side and surprisingly few things can stop a charging werewolf, the zombie turned out not to be one of those few things. Skidding into a room he kicked the door shut and looked around. They were standing in the library, Patrick and Mina apparently looking quite nervous wit ha determined group of Zombies headed towards Mina.

"Uhhh..Hello."

He said lamely.

* * *

Jeannie looked around the library, she was relieved to see that there seemed to be no injuries to the others.

Put me down please Jake, I don't want to burden you. The zombies have to be dealt with, I'll only get in the way

She was glad that fate had led them to this room, agreeing to leave the others hadn't felt right...despite being useless to them right now. The only thing she could do was shout to Mina

Run Mina! Tell Patrick to use fireballs...anything to make them burn!

* * *

Broc wrestled with Traq, each other trying to get a hand hold on each others head. They were also arguing.

"You left the gang, Broc, and left you sister behind."

The anger ripped through him. His anguish fill his voice.

"SHUT UP!! I DIDNT LEAVE HER BEHIND!!!"

By now Traq had Broc totally pinned.

"I have a surprise for you Broc, Cmon in honey"

Broc looked up to see a young women walk in and set her and on Traq's shoulder

Broc recgonized her right as she spoke.

"Hello Brother"

Brocs scream reverbeated through out the emmbassy.

* * *

Snuffles skidded round a corner, found himself face to fac...back with some zombies, leapt over them (amazing stuff, cats) landed with his back on Patrick (hard to land properly when you cant decide wether to act like a human or a cat), immediatley twisted in a way which some might call unnatural, so that he was standing on two feet again, and extracted his claws.

He then started hopping from one foot to another, paws bent at right angles towards the lower arm, one arm outstretched towards the group of zombies, the other bent over his head. His tail had swollen to twice the size.

Snuffles hopped randomly accros the room, sometimes making a sudden hop towards the enemies and retreating hurriedly.

He hissed:

'Meow! / Haaa! / Meow Mew! / Have at thee! / Meow mow mow! / Snake-stance! / Meow! Meouw Mew! / Victory of the felines!'

Every now and the he stumbled against one of the rooms other occupants, but never looking away from his adversaries.

* * *

Twilight sat and watched lamely at Snuffle's attempt to battle the zombies. Looking over, she saw Patrick and Mina still trying to get away. Patrick could take of himself, but Twilight knew that she needed to help keep Mina safe.

Being a street cat, she was always ready for a good catfight, but the human part of her wanted her to turn around and run as far away as possible. That was another thing that was wrong with humans, they were so cowardly.

Trying to keep her human side down, Twilight let the fur on her back stand up, and her claws seemed to extend. Bearing her fangs, and hissing, she attatcked the closest zombie and started violently biting at the stitches on its neck. Decaying flesh tasted horrible, but Twilight managed to get off enough sitches to make its head fall off. Landing on the ground as the rest of the body fell, she glared menacingly at the other zombies, daring them to get near her

* * *

Mina ran to the furthest corner of the library. Having heard Jeannie she told the wizard: 'Fireballs! Jeannie said!'

She felt trapped, but no-one was going to let Mrs Jessel out if she could help it. Mina started to burrow through the books blocking her way, when a simian arm emerged from out of them and pulled her through to a different place entirely. It was still full of books but much bigger.

'Ooooook!' said the librarian in hushed tones 'Oook ooooook.'*

Mina nodded silently, and gripped the box even more tightly.

*Shhhhhh quiet! I'll let you back through when it's safe.

* * *

Jake Ignored Jeannie's instruction to put her down and stood watching Snuffles impressive acrobatic skills, well at least impressive for an over-sized cat. So distracted was he that it took a warning bark from Jeannie for him to notice the Zombie charging at him. With Jeannie taking up his arms and making it impossible to shift, Jake's brain took a moment to think of a way of dealing with the zombie which didn't end him being slammed against a wall by something that wreaked of rotten meat. He decided to take the simple strategy and took a quick side step, exposing the closed door behind him. Jake watched in satisfied silence as the zombie's eyes widened and it tried to slow. However, so great was its momentum that he smashed into the door and bounced backwards. It stood there for a moment and looked at Jake with a cruel smile, once its ears had supposedly stopped ringing and then, its head fell off.

"What the hell? I thought zombies were supposed to be slow and shambling things that kept saying 'Brains' all the time."

The library fell silent with that Phrase and Jake looked up, the fighting had stopped and most of the Zombies were looking at him. Rewinding his previous phrase in his mind he decided that perhaps it hadn't been the best thing to toss out there in a room full of fighting undead.

"Not that I mind any of that of course, I mean each to their own and everything."

This did not appear to lift the silence, in fact it seemed to deepen and take on a harder edge.

"Uhhh…Well I can see that everyone's busy so I…."

He trailed off, there was a cry from one of the Zombies and then he had quite a few of them charging at him.

This is all your fault you know.

He pointed out to the wolf he was holding, he wasn't sure how at the moment but he was pretty confident he could pin it on her if people would stop trying to beat him.

* * *

Jeannie cringed when Jake spoke, and the zombies all turned to him

Wow, you really have great people skills

She said rolling her eyes. The zombies began to run at them and Jeannie wished she was in a position to take a few of them apart

My fault?!

Jeannie replied indignantly

I tell you what, I'll be happy to debate the finer points of that argument with you and how completely wrong you are, but we have to get out here alive first!

* * *

Snuffles darted between the feet of a zombie, who was running around, while screaming and waving his club around, to feel important. The corpse hit the ground with a dull thump, and was, probably, very surprised to find itself, in just a few seconds, scattered all around the room and having his head clawed at constantly, while being rolled into the most confusing of directions, some of which weren't probably even possible.

* * *

Patrick heard Mina shout out something about Jeannie and fireballs. Taking the hint, he prepared to do his best, but was confronted by the sprawling mess of foe and friend in a rapidly moving battle.

Targeting the easiest zombies first he let loose a few small bursts of fire orbs for effect. Catching one squarely in the chest, he saw the thing erupt quickly and sent a few more onto him just for good measure.

Seeing another broken into pieces on the floor, Patrick threw fire at the assorted body parts in an effort to prevent them from reorganizing later.

It was still too confusing to get a clear shot at all of them but he tried. The orbs he had left in the hallway exploded, a sign that someone or something had tried to come that way. The flash and sound would have been enough to stun a normal human, but not wanting to take chances, he let rip with a few flaming orbs in the direction of the doorway. Anything still coming through the door would be fried in an instant.

Looking over his shoulder to the stack of books, Patrick saw that Mina was gone. He knew nobody got past him and assumed that the Librarian had come through for him.

"Mina is gone! She's safe! So's the box! Let's level this place and get the hells out of here!"

He couldn't see Broc, but heard his cry echo through the building. Not knowing if he was hurt or not, Patrick feared the worst and figured they had lost one of the group.

"Jeannie, Jake! I say we get an escort made of both families to get us out of here and through Uberwald while there's still an 'us' to worry about!"

Another zombie showed itself through the flaming doorway and Patrick loosed a storm of flames and lighting in its direction.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take! This is more magic than I've done in months! We have to get moving!"

Mina, we'll come for you!

* * *

Broc stumbled around. After the emmbassy basicly burst into flames, Traq and Jessica had run. Why, Jessica, why. That thought went round and round in Broc's head. He happen to go into the room were the others were. Still stumbling aroung he noticed Jeannie...and snaped back to reality. Jessica could wait but his friends needed him now.

"No time to assemble an escort. Lets just go!!"

* * *

The noise of the explosions hurt her ears, Jeannie flattend them against her head but noticed that Patrick's magic was having the desired effect on the zombies. Those that hadn't been burnt were running away

Ok, let's get the hells out of here! she barked at Jake who was still holding her

Broc came into the room, and yelled at them. Jeanie looked at him

There is time to assemble an escort! All we have to do is send out a howl and anyway, do you really want to travel through Uberwald without back up?!

then she remembered that Jake was the only person presently in the room who could understand canine so instead she gave Broc a look, shifted slightly in Jakes arms and spoke in softer tones

Jake, please Tell Broc to get the coach ready, it looks like our departure has come around sooner than expected

* * *

Strangely Jake felt very calm under the circumstances and watched events unfold around him. The zombies progress was halted by Patrick's fireballs and his idea to vacate the Embassy struck Jake as a very good one.

"Broc spoke being hysterical and think, do you think you'll be able to get through Uberwald with no protection with Jeannie injured? Go and get the coach ready the rest of us will meet you out there in a minute, Jeannie and Have to make a call."

Well calling your family with me holding you is not something that I really like the thought of, they might get the wrong impression.

He started moving towards Patrick, getting close enough he said.

"You and the others follow Broc out to the coach, Jeannie and I will be there in a second."

Jake waited for others to leave before disappearing down the corridor towards the back entrance. Once outside he found a small clump of trees and put Jeannie down.

I'll be back in a second

He disappeared, a black wolf re-appearing a few minutes later. Jake's voice ripped through the woods, a cry for help, but one that carried a note of challenge and seemed to carry over rolling miles.

That should do it

* * *

Patrick was glad to hear that they would be leaving the Embassy. Since their arrival, they'd been attacked by rogue wolves, spied on by a Hersheban and found by a pack of zombies - with some ties to Broc.

Having to think quickly, Patrick grabbed a book off the nearest shelf, scribbled a short note to Mina and then hurled the book through the stack on the floor. Reaching the center of the pile it disappeared with a 'foop' and a small flash of light.

The Librarian will get that surely and he can help Mina meet up with us....

Moving with a purpose he grabbed up his bag, the belongings that Mina had brought with her and met up with Broc as the coach was being prepared.

"If we can point ourselves in the direction of the Ramtops we'll be out of Uberwald in a day or two and closer to our destination."

Realizing he'd just sped right by a major topic of concern, Patrick lowered his voice and looked at Broc with genuine concern.

"I'm not going to pretend that I know what just happened back there, but it seems to have affected you. I can't speak for the others, but if there's anything you need, just say it."

Most of the flames had died down but there were one or two rooms still spewing red tinged smoke from their windows. The Embassy would probably survive, but would need some serious work. He was glad he wouldn't be around when the bill was due.

Send it to Ridcully.

Standing in the yard, he heard the howl go up from nearby and was surprised when it wasn't immediately answered. He'd half expected to be surrounded immediately by fangs and fur.

Thinking about the escort, Patrick hoped that this is what Jake and Jeannie would need right now. If the two families were forced to cooperate and work together, they might find the truce less of a burden than they orginally thought.

Then again, they could get bored halfway here and eat us for breakfast.

* * *

Broc had gotten the coach, even a padded dog bed for Jeannie. Broc just stared back at Patrick. in a dead (no pun intended) voice he said.

"Right, get everyone outhere and then we can head out...wait...wait...WHERES MINA!!!!! WE CANT LEAVE WITHOUT HER!!!"

* * *

In the small wooded area where Jake had put her down Jeannie lay awkwardly, finding it impossible to get comfortable with the damn wound in her chest, although this didn't stop her from sending out her summons to her own family after Jake had sent his to the Von Uberwalds. A short time later an answering howl was heard in the distance

Well, my family are on the way, the coach will have its escort soon

Jeannie realised then that she didn't want to go, or to put it more accurately that she didn't want to leave Jake. But she had to go, she was duty bound and had to fulfil that duty so instead of voicing her feelings she simply looked at him. The late afternoon light filtered through the trees, giving her fur an extra touch of gold and she stared into the eyes of the black wolf in front of her, then she looked away down at the ground, her heart was wrestling with her head, but she had orders, she had no choice.

Thank you for helping me, and I'm sorry you got dragged into this whole mess with the box. It'll be well away from here soon and things can get back to normal…or what passes for normality in Uberwald anyway

* * *

Twighlight crouched as the embassy began to catch fire. Repressed memories of the Ankh-Morpork fire brought themselves back from the pits of her mind.

She was really beginning to wish that she was back in Ankh-Morpork with her pride of alleycats. They stuck together when things like this happened. They weren't very different from the Uberwalds and the Adawulfs, except that they weren't divided into different clans. If you were an AM alleycat, you were automatically related to every other alleycat in the city. That's how she was taught by her Grandfather. He was the oldest cat in the city, therefore he'd been proclaimed the leader. Twilight's parents had made sure she learned to honor him.

The point was, that if they were here with her, this whole situation would be a lot more bearable.

As she raced out of the embassy with the others, she was almost deafened by Broc's shouting. Gave him the most reassuring "Meow!" that she could manage at this point, and dove into the coach and under the seat, shaking with fear

* * *

Snuffles ran out of the burning Embassy, burning logs crashing down behind him, because of Narrative.

He dusted himself off and, with a paw on his hip, the other raised to his mouth, walked over to the coach. As he approached, the smoking pipe could be seen in his mouth.

He sat down in the coach and kicked into the place where he supposed Twilight to be. When he heard an offensed 'meow', he said:

'Meow Medreow Mow! / Just for old times sake!' and sniggered.

* * *

"Mina is okay! She went with the Librarian. I sent a message - he'll know where to find us when Mina is ready to come back."

Seeing Twilight dart into the coach, Patrick could now account for four of the group.

"We're just missing the big...cat...thing and Jake and Jeannie. I don't think Jeannie can move too quickly, so let's hold up here a few more seconds to give them a chance to catch up."

* * *

Twilight jumped out from under the seat, looking offended. Landing in Snuffles' lap, she looked up into his face.

That was so uncalled for, she said. But, just remember Lengthening her claws again, she gave him a sharp scratch across his face, and she smiled

You started it

* * *

The tall figure moved with a super natural grace and appeared before Patrick. Vorick was tall in human form and was dressed simply but very elegantly. His manner appeared unhurried as thought he was completely confident that the world would wait until he was ready. The large black wolf that appeared to be his constant companion also appeared with him, neither of them had made a sound.

"I see that you are leaving the Embassy."

He must haven noticed the attack and the smoke, he must have and yet he didn't spare it a second glance. Sweeping his gaze over the small group he spoke again, looking directly at Patrick.

"Where is me son? I believe he was the one that called us."

Jake had not been sure what to say to Jeannie's comment so he'd said nothing. He had disappeared into the trees and shifted back into human form so he could carry her.

Well I will be with you until the borders at least, I mean it is my family helping with the escort.

Their path to the coach became impeded by Jeannie's brother.

"So this is how the Uberwalds honour a truce is it? By attacking my sister."

Jake felt the wolf leap inside of him, here was the wolf that had injured him and now was insulting him. The wolf knew he could take this guy down and the human side knew that he could skin him.

"Yes of course I attacked her and then I decided to bandage the wound and carry her. I know it's very hard for you but before you spout off at anyone it would just be such a wheeze if you could perhaps look at a situation before mouthing off."

The two glowered at one another, their eyes locking and neither of them looking away.

* * *

Mina was standing silently in the library with the librarian. It was big and the books rustled occasionally as though blown about by an invisible wind. Suddenly a book flew out of a book case, quickly followed by another, hitting the Librarian in the side of the head.

'Eek!'* He picked one up and shook it gingerly as if waiting for something to fall out. Nothing did. He looked at it curiously.

'Oooooook! Oook oook!'** He exclaimed. He picked up the other book and shook it. Out fell a small slip of paper which he picked up and read. He took Mina by the hand and explained

'Ooook, oook oook eeek ook ooook.'***

'Oh, ok.' She replied still clutching the box.

The Librarian took Mina by the hand, looked critically at a nearby bookshelf and stepped forwards. Mina closed her eyes expecting to walk into a load of books, but nothing happened, so she opened them again. They were in a dark and narrow aisle of what seemed to be a different library. The librarian walked along it, peering at the information on the spines of the books. Mina could here footsteps slowly coming towards them. A girl appeared at the top of the aisle, failing to notice them at all, peering at the books in much the same way as the Librarian.

'DA 480, H.T. Dickinson, where is it? DA 480… how come there are so many books labelled DA480, and none of them the one I'm looking for?… 'A Companion to 18th Century Britain', where is it? Where is it? I need to read it for the tutorial. DA 480.' She muttered under her breath. The Librarian nudged her and silently passed her the book he had been holding.

'Thank-you!' she turned smiling, and then as she saw them both, her expression changed 'Oh!' The Librarian put his finger to his lips.

'Ooook.'**** He said in a hushed voice.

'Ummm… d-don't I recognise you?' The girl looked confused, Mina looked up at her. She seemed familiar. At this point the girl spoke again.

'Mina?!'

'Oooook! Ooook ook!'***** The Librarian grabbed hold of Mina and they disappeared through the nearest book-shelf.

They landed in the coach by the Embassy where Mina could see the wizard, the cats and Broc.

'We went to another library! It was in a place called Roundworld! A girl there knew my name! I still have the box. Are the bad zombies gone? Where's Jeannie and Jake? Why is the Embassy on fire?'

At this point, the librarian uttered a strangled

'Ooooook!'****** and rushed into the building.

* Ouch!

**A companion to 18th Century Britain! How strange, there must have been a collision in L-space!

*** Mina, it's safe now, I'm going to take you back to the others. But I've got to do something first.

****Shhhhhh!

*****Let's go! This is Roundworld, she shouldn't know us.

******The books

* * *

Back in Jakes arms Jeannie caught the scent of her brother before she saw him blocking their path, unable to get a word in edgeways she waited until the inevitable stand off between Varick and Jake

Varick! Don't be such an idiot!

Her brother reluctantly broke his stare at Jake to look at her

"Idiot!? I find my sister wounded in the arms of an Uberwald…"

Shut up and listen! Jake didn't hurt me, he has done nothing but help me since I was wounded…you should listen to him Varick, try looking at a situation before rushing in!

She was angry now, perhaps because in commenting on Varicks impetuousness she recognised in herself the same trait, the same one that had caused her to leap at that spy and put herself in the reach of his knife. Trembling slightly from anger and frustration at the whole situation she glared at her brother

Get out of our way!

* * *

The stare had been broken and Jake listened to Jeannie lambaste her sibling.

"Wow, even your sister thinks you're an idiot."

He shouldn't have said it, but watching Varick stiffen with restrained rage was more than a little satisfying. The clearing of a throat drew Jake's attention the woman who had appeared to his right. She looked so much like Jeannie was uncanny, the eyes and demeanour were different, this was a hard woman and a leader, it had to be Jeannie's mother.

"Ah Valker" Jake flinched mentally as Lady Adalwulf used his real name like a spear. "I've heard that Lord Vorick has acknowledged his bastard and that you now hold the title of Von Uberwald how nice for you."

Jake said nothing, there was not a great deal that could be said, it was technically all true.

"Of course a name does not ensure a name does not suddenly stop someone from being a mongrel."

Jake's grip tightened slightly on Jeannie and for a moment there appeared to be a struggle within him and then.

"Really? It seemed to work for you."

That had been a mistake, unfortunately his mouth had decided to ignore his minds instinct for survival. Not only that he seemed to be gripped in a madness, he was a werewolf yes and there was a truce true, but there were two Adalwulfs here that would certainly be all too willing to show him the meaning of pain.

"Tell me, when you greet another noble does their arse smell sweeter?"

It was amazing Jake thought, the woman didn't shake or clench her jaw, but her entire face went pale and he could see her skin moving as though she was having trouble restraining herself from shifting. He guess he just had a knack for annoying people, unfortunately annoying your families mortal enemies during a time of truce was never very diplomatic.

* * *

When her mother appeared Jeannie knew this could all go very wrong very quickly. Hearing the way Karina spoke to Jake, Jeannie was about to interrupt when Jake managed to help things turn very bad very quickly with his reply

Jeannie had seen that look on her mothers face before, this wasn't good. Karina had a vicious streak that was extreme even by werewolf standards, and Varick looked as though he would love to have a chance to hurt Jake again.

Jeannie cut in quickly

Ok, now we have got the pleasantries out of the way let's just get to the coach before this truce gets any shakier shall we?

No-one paid any attention. Her mother still looked furious, and Jeannie knew that look on Varicks face. He wouldn't forget this, her brother was very good at holding grudges especially if it gave him an excuse to go hunting.

Jake, please just stop talking!

Just as Jeannie was thinking this couldn't get any worse an infuriatingly calm and graceful figure emerged from the trees in front. Jeannie tensed in Jakes arms at the sight of Vorick, and with difficulty repressed the growl that rose in her throat.

* * *

Unfortunately the cliché about the tension being cut wit ha knife would be a stupid one, well maybe not if the knife was very sharp or perhaps if it was wielded by someone with enormous strength. Jeannie's mother had said nothing for a full minute and was merely just glaring at him as though something were restraining her, but only barely, from jumping on Jake. His father's appearance did not ease the situation, but his self assured calm at least made Jake feel better.

"Ah lady Karina I see you have managed to find my son, I am grateful."

The subtle hint was delivered seamlessly and with impeccable tact.

"Perhaps however we should hurry, I believe that the embassy is not a safe place to remain at the present time."

Karina's mother did not speak, nor did she take her gaze from Jake. Finally as though finally returning, her composure fell back into place and she nodded to Vorick but Jake could still see the flames in her eyes. Vorick gestured for Lady Karina to go ahead of him. She moved past gesturing for her son to follow. Vorick gave Jake a meaningful look before following after the two other wolves.

Wow, it's amazing, I seem to make friends wherever I go, looks like I'm a real hit with your family.

* * *

Jeannie relaxed as everyone moved away from the clearing, her mother was absolutly livid she could sense that much.

Jeannie half smiled in a wolfish way

Yes, you do have a knack for getting on with people don't you? And that little discussion certainly made an impression on my family.

The smile faded as they walked after the other werewolves, towards the coach. She couldn't help but wonder just how long the truce would last, would it last until the feral wolves were defeated? Jeannie wasn't convinced but there was little she could do now to help.

They came closer to the coach and the rest of the group

* * *

Patrick was a little upset with himself for having lost his tongue at the sight of Vorick. He was an impossing figure for sure, but a wizard was not accustomed to being cowed by anyone.

Just as he was about to answer the man, Vorick turned, apparently to seek out the others.

Sagging just a little, Patrick immediately jumped at the sound of little Mina's voice cheerfully relating her brief but wonderful adventure with the Librarian.

"Mina! I see our friend treated you well! Come on now, we have to leave. Get settled in and I promise to tell you all the details on the way, alright?"

Jake and Jeannie were making their way toward the coach and Broc was ready at the reins. Mark was obviously absent, but Patrick figured he had a loose end or three to tie up before leaving with them.

"I'll leave my horse here for him. I'll ride on top, that will leave me free to react to anything that gets through our escort."

As the guard of wolves and men moved toward the coach, Patrick thought of offering thanks for the help, but then something told him to hold his tongue.

Silence may be best right now. A truce between these two families for the purpose of defeating a common enemy is one thing. Helping outsiders is another. There may be ways of thanking Jake and Jeannie personally before this is all over.

Climbing on to the top of the coach he braced himself between the luggage braces and rested back on his and Mina's bags that he'd lashed down.

"Mina, hold onto that box my dear and stay away from the windows please! This may be more adventure than either of us bargained for!"

* * *

Broc sat and fumed at the reins. after listing to the exchange between Jake and Jeannie and thier familys.

Turning to Patrick, Broc whispered.

"God the egos here are overwhelming."

in a louder voice.

" okay family gettogather over, lets go, i hate this place. cmon, chop chop."

he glance at Mina.

"If you hang to that box nice and tight, ill give you some candy, you know in fact."

Broc reached into his pocket and tossed Mina a peice of hard candy.

* * *

Perhaps Broc had forgotten about the extremely good hearing ability of the average werewolf, or perhaps he just had an after-death wish. Either way every werewolf who surrounded the coach was now staring at him in a cold, completely still manner which was somehow much more unnerving than if they had growled or snapped at him. It showed that behind the lupine form was a calculating intelligence that was capable of far greater cruelty than any animal. The stares of the werewolves who were still in human form were equally unnerving

Jeannie also glared at Broc, wondering how he had managed to overhear the exchange between the families given the distance they had been from the coach.

Lady Karina walked slowly towards the coach with a disturbing smile on her face. Jeannie was quite impressed with how her mother was managing to sit on her rage, especially after the way Jake had spoken to her but Karina wasn't stupid. She wouldn't be the one to spoil the fragile truce between the two families, however she would not tolerate insults from a mere zombie. She addressed Broc now as she drew close to him

"Young man, some of the most powerful werewolves in Uberwald are doing you a huge and undeserved favour by escorting you onto the next step of your journey. I don't know if a zombie could survive having his skull crushed by a pair of jaws and his limbs dismembered and shredded, the torso can present a bit of a problem at first but once a few of the ribs have been snapped it's easy enough to take to pieces then of course the organs can be ripped out in less than a minute. The lack of blood would be a disappointment but it could be tolerated in your case. Every single werewolf around you is capable of doing exactly this so I suggest that any opinions about the nobility around you should be kept to yourself!"

Her point made, Karina turned and walked towards her daughter. To Jeannie's surprise she actually had a look of concern on her face. Perhaps the serious injury that Jeannie had suffered had provoked some long forgotten maternal instinct inside her mother, but it was soon apparent that Karina's concern was for a different reason. Karina glared at Jake then spoke to Jeannie

"I must say that your obvious friendship with this mongrel concerns me. However what is of more concern to me right now is that you intend to leave while the threat of the feral wolves still looms large over your family. Where exactly do your loyalties lie Selphina?"

Jeannie returned the sub-zero gaze of her mother, and simply replied

My friendship with Jake shouldn't cause you any concern...as it has absolutly nothing to do with you! And my loyalty lies in my word. I am bound to help and protect this group of travellers. That is all I have to say on the matter Mother.

Karina obviously wasn't satisfied with Jeannies answer but she didn't care, she knew her mother disapproved of her being in the Watch and Jeannie wasn't about to engage in yet another argument about it. She looked away towards the looked like the others were ready, there was no sign of Mark but Jeannie figured that he could take care of himself. Jeannie spoke to Jake

I should get on the coach with the others, it looks like they are ready to leave

* * *

Vorick who had been passing through the appearing Von Uberwals and holding quiet conversations with them. At lady Karina's words he broke away and moved towards the Adalwulf, the air of self assurance and calm never leaving him. Jeannie's brother, nervously stepped forwards to stand in front of his mother. Vorick said nothing, merely looked at him for a moment before speaking to Lady Karina.

"Lady, I am sure I was mistaken when I heard you call one of my sons a mongrel, such a thing would be a grievous insult and slur upon my family."

Lady Karina appeared to stand defiant, but Vorick had given her a difficult decision, to admit it and risk breaking the truce or to deny it and be made to eat her words. Of course she could try indignation but it would seem petty as the insult was clearly spoken and silence would be as good as an admission and would make it appear as though she was being rebuked by an equal.

"Lord Vorick I can assure you I would do nothing that I thought would endanger our truce."

Lord Karina had dodged the answer and managed to keep face, obviously to rivals unable to battle with tooth and claw were using words to duel. Vorick's expression did not change, he merely nodded and turned. Jake let out a breath he hadn't realised he was holding and got on board the coach. Their escort in position and everyone save Mark there, they left.

You know, you're not going to be much help to them on the journey with your injury, some might say that might excuse your responsibility to help them.

He looked at Patrick and felt he had to apologise for his father, an irrational thought perhaps, but one that kept nagging at him.

"I'm sorry about my father, he can be…quite intense."

He looked at Snuffles and Twilight and wondered how they were doing being so completely surrounded by wolves. True, they were Ankh-Morpork cats but still, although he would certainly like to see them battling it out with Jeannie's bro, he was pretty confident that they would win to.

* * *

The coach proceeded down the road away from the embassy, inside Jeannie lay curled up on the seat next to Jake. Mina was sat opposite them with a cat on either side of her. Occasionally a noise from above confirmed Patricks presence on the top of the coach and Broc could be heard occasionally yelling to the horses as he drove them.

Jeannie looked up at Jake

You know well enough that my injury will be healed very soon. By nightfall I should be almost fully recoverd…but I'll admit it would have been nice to stay around for a day or two longer.

After a while the ride got bumpier as the coach rattled along one of the numerous rough roads that wounds through the trees, amazingly Jeannie managed to doze for a while but was rather rudely woken up when she was unceremoniously dumped on the floor when the coach hit a particularly large bump. She would be glad when she could shift back to human form…that reminded her of something

Jake, could you please ask Patrick if my pack was brought with the other bags. I don't fancy shifting if I have to walk around naked

Jake shouted up to Patrick who confirmed that yes, Jeannies pack had been brought along. As he relayed the information to her Jeannie nodded and managed to stand up, the rocking of the coach not helping the fact that she was still a bit shaky

* * *

'Nk you!' Mina thanked Broc as she took the candy. 'Have the bad zombers gone now? Why did they want the box?'

Mina stroked Twilight for a bit, she was still a bit unsure about the big cat, so she just patted it occasionally. When they got further away from the embassy, she started talking again.

'I went through the books! There was a BIG library! Books hit the librarian so we had to bring them back an' we went to a small library with Alleys of books! An' a girl there knew my name! And the librarian said it was a different world! But it looked the same to me. And I thought I knew the girl but the the librarian said I shouldn't cos it was Roundworld. He thought it was scary but wasn't. So we flew through the books and came here! We did Magic!' having excitedly recited her tale, Mina sat back satisfied.

'Are there lots of worlds?' she asked.

* * *

Broc was a little daunted, but only little. or so he told himself.

Broc drove the coach over rough roads for several hours. Soon they drove into a large forrest with tall trees and a thick overhang that nearly blocked out the sun. As they were passing under a paticular group of low branches,Broc looked back at Patrick.

"Hey, keep your eyes peeled, this place reeks of ambush and everything else that could go wrong.

Before Patrick had time to answer, something reached down and yanked Broc up into the low over hang faster then he could scream.

* * *

Snuffles was very unsettled and glared at each one of the wolves in a very democratic fashion, secreting exactly the same amount of poisonous and hatred-filled stares for every single one of them. Except Jeannie and Jake, of course.

He was now, that they were away from the Embassy, exercising his vocal cords again, pleased with seeing the look on Twilights face, obviously angry.

Suddendly, Broc was yanked out of his seat. Snuffles instincively hacked at the brusque movement, but didn't have time to think about what to do next, as the door of the coach suddendly opened and a bony hand grabbed him by the neck and pulled him out, making him let out a short yelp.

He couldn't see any details of the attacker, he couldn't do anything hanging in the air like this. Literally hanging in the air, as he was now lifted up into the air and carried further into the woods. There were obiviously difficulties, the creature holding him was panting and flying irregularly, so all Snuffles could do was cover his eyes and hope that the being would tire soon.

* * *

A particularly large jolt as the coach wheel hit a pothole in the road resulted in Jeannie lying sprawled on the floor.

Right! enough is enough! Tell Broc to stop the coach.

Her intention was to get her clothes out of her pack and shift back to human form, the wound was still sore but had healed greatly and she was sure the journey would be much more comfortable if she could take on the shape intended for a coach seat.

There was no answer from Broc, but before they could question this, Snuffles was grabbed from the coach and there was a horribly familiar screech high in the treetops above. Anyone who grew up in Uberwald learnt to fear this sound, it was the scream of a banshee. Wild ones were rare but a few still hunted in some of the more desolate areas of Uberwald.

Jeannie's ears pricked up, her hackles rose and she assumed a position that would allow her to spring at anyone who came through the coach door, a shadow was visible just outside. Jeannie tensed, she was about to leap when she noticed that the shadow was wearing a pointy hat. Realising it was just Patrick climbing down from the top of the coach, Jeannie leapt out of the door and stood sniffing the air, trying to work out where they had gone. It was impossible, a banshee had practically no scent

Jeannie turned and spoke to Jake who generously agreed to fetch her pack form the top of the coach. Jeannie took a strap between her teeth and dragged it into the bushes. She returned a few moments later, fully clothed and the livid red scar in her ribs covered by her shirt. She slung her pack inside the coach and turned to the others.

"Any one ever dealt with a banshee before?"

* * *

"A what? A banshee?"

Patrick had heard of them ofcourse during his stays with various older wizards, but he had always thought of them as tales told to young men to scare them away from the girls in the village.

"I didn't think they were real."

Trying to think of something he could do to help, Patrick spoke to the grass and trees causing them to grow thicker and taller around the coach, effectively hiding it from ground view.

Touching the side of the coach, it turned the same shade of green as the surrounding vegetation. That just left the horses.

"Can't do much about the horses, but this should make it harder for us to be readily spotted. It's a trick I picked up from an old friend of mine. He tried to sell the army on the idea, but they like their shiny armor and colorful cloaks. Pity really."

Deciding to stay with Mina and Twilight at the coach, he was aware of the escort moving uneasily in the surrounding growth; obviously this banshee thing was something to worry about.

* * *

Broc struggled with- well he didnt know what it was. After a short wreslting match Broc got one of his backup knives out. There were a few complicated moments, Then Broc slammed into the ground next to Jeannie. He struggled to get up, but this was quite hard because of him having no arms and a knive nailing one of his legs to the ground. Then the thing came swooping out of the trees. Straight at Patrick.

* * *

Snuffles dropped unto all fours, he couldn't help it anyway, and turned around. He was at the base of a cliff, on a small clearing. The ... thing was just retreated into the shadow of a large tree and let out a shrill howl.

Hearing a scraping noise behind him, he looked back and saw a few shapes crawling out of a cave. As they stepped into a half-light, Snuffles could see torn pieces of dark cloth in their skinny hands. He could just make out some words of the stumbling, slimy humans.

'My preshussss...' they whispered.

'Meow! / Bansai!' he exclaimed, dropping on all fours, and rushed towards the nearest of them. He grabbed him by the shir... rag, when it ... bit him.

'Mew!'

And they had sharp teeth.

* * *

Patrick saw all too late the ...thing headed right at him. Caught off guard he reacted in the only way he knew how and tried to block the creature with his arms.

Hitting him with full force, Patrick was lifted of his feet and thrown back aginst the coach causing it to rock side to side.

Just before he passed out from the knock to his head, he thought he saw a shadow - as if the thing was turning around for another attack.

* * *

As the coach rocked jerkily from side to side, Twilight's light body was thrown to the floor of the coach and rolled out of the open door. Hitting the ground with a thud! a cloud of dirt rose, and was sharply inhaled into her lungs, causing her to cough and hack, trying to breathe.

She knew that she should stay put until the cloud cleared. She wanted to stay put, but her more irritating human half had already taken control of her body. It was all she could do to keep from changing, but the unwanted human instincts had sprung her onto her paws and, dirt in her eyes, ran her blindly into the woods, out of a sheer will to survive.

* * *

Mina's babbling stopped abruptly as the coach was shaken and the group were attacked by the scariest monster she had ever seen ever. She watched horrified as it tore Broc apart, bit the giant cat, and knocked the wizard out. She could see that her new friends were not able to ward off this monster, she decided that it needed to be attacked in the most powerful way she knew of. She ran over to the wizard and tried to get him to wake up.

'We need magic! We need magic! Help! Please!'

He didn't get up. Mina tried again, but the monster had turned round and was looking at her. She remembered that the box was made of powerful magic.

'Go away!' She yelled at the monster, 'or I'll set Mrs Jessel on you!'

The monster gave no sign of moving, so Mina tried to open the box. It wouldn't. She pulled at the lid but it wouldn't open. Mina thought of how she had shut in the magic. Now she thought of letting it out. She imagined a stream of magic shooting out and hitting the monster. To her surprise that's exactly what happened. The monster who had been lunging towards her, made a twanging sound, and turned into an over-sized rubber duck. Mina looked around. A shocked silence filled the area.

'Yaaaaaaaay! I did magic! I did magic! yay!' Mina exclaimed before remembering the others.

* * *

Twilight ran blindly deeper and deeper into the woods, the dirt still blurring her vision, and her human half still driving her on.

"Meeaaaaoooowwww!!!!" she could hear her cry echo off the trees and back to her, her ears flattening against her head as she tried to stop herself.

The rocks and twigs she stumbled over were beginning to cut into the bottoms of her paws. She was so desperate to stop right now that she'd do anything....

BONK!!

....okay, maybe anything, but trees.

Twilight stumbled around aimlessly and dizzily until she finally fell to the ground, out cold

* * *

Snuffles shook the creatures off, clawing to make them back away. The things had let go of the black ribbons they were clutching and were apparently doing what seemed to be a little dance.

Stumbling backwards, he dabbed at his neck.

'The cheek! Incwedible! Why you wotten... / Me Meow! Meow! Meow meouw meo-...' he stopped in the middle of the sentence.

'Wotten Bastawds?' he tried, and brought his hand to his teeth. Two of them had grown ! This would certainly be bothersome, he could see that. He was stopped in the middle of his thoughts by a new feeling, a strong lust for blood.

'Well, lesse if I can return the favour! / Mew!'

Snuffles launched himself once again at one of the creatures.

* * *

Jeannie had located a large rock with the intention of using it to bash the creatures brains out, she was now left holding the rock above her head and found herself about to crush a large rubber duck.

She dropped the rock onto the ground and slowly turned to Mina with a expression of shock on her face

"Um…well done Mina. You did well, but perhaps you could just put the box down for a moment?"

Jeannie asked the child whilst trying to conceal the unease in her voice, Mina had just used the magic box. So far nothing good had come of it and the only other person who had the faintest idea about the box was unconscious. Jeannie walked over to Patrick who was slumped against the side of the coach, he had a huge lump on his head but seemed otherwise okay.

Jeannie looked around, the cats were missing but everyone else was still here. Broc was in pieces but that was nothing unusual for a zombie. After helping Broc to piece himself back together Jeannie then began to sooth the horses who were understandably spooked. She was fairly good with horses, she used to help out at a local blacksmith when she was young. It had been somewhere to retreat away from her family after her father died.

Aware of Jake standing not too far from her, Jeannie spoke as she gently stroked the nose of the large brown mare.

"I just want to say sorry, for the way my mother spoke to you. My family are…well, perhaps now it's clear why I have as little to do with them as possible"

She sighed, and looked up at the sky

"We should get moving, the sooner we get out of this area the safer we'll all be"

* * *

Patrick stood alone in the field that he had worked with his father since he could remember. In the distance he could see several men walking with a purpose toward him; he could hear them as easily as if they stood next to him.

"'s not right! We shoulda been told! Ya can't tell me his parents didn't know. They was hidin' the fact!"

He was just a young boy and didn't understand the trouble he was in. He didn't understand that he was feared by the rest in the city. His family was well off and practically ran the entire city, but even the family name couldn't prevent this.

"A boy with his powers shoulda been sent away years ago! He needed trainin' not coddlin' by his mother. No tellin' what he could do if he decided to have a bad day."

As the men got closer, Patrick made out the outlines of daggers under their shirts. One had a hammer.

"We'll do this quick like. No need to make him suffer. Not the way he did to old man Stumpweed."

Now he knew. And he was afraid. They meant to kill him! Patrick turned to run but too late..one of them men grabbed him from behind and held him by the neck while the others circled around. He could hear their breathing rasping in their dusty lungs and felt the heartbeat of the one holding him. Fear gripped him and Patrick did the only thing he knew how to do...he called out to the world around him.

* * *

'I can't put it down, the monsters will escape!'

Mina giggled at the sight of Jeannie trying to crush a rubber duck with a rock. She closed the box again like the wizard had shown her, and didn't let go of it until it stopped seeming like it was leaking. Then she put the box down and sat down suddenly.

'Can we find a river to float the ducky in? What was that monster? It was scary! Scarier than Mrs Jessel!' She noticed the wizard lying there on the ground.

'Is he hurt?' She asked worriedly. She went over to where he was and patted him on the arm a couple of times. 'Will he wake up soon?'

* * *

Patrick opened his eyes with a start, half expecting to see the figures of the men standing over him. Instead he saw Mina, Jeannie and a somewhat surprised looking rubber duck.

"Oh. Back to normal I see?"

Not wanting to chance standing up just yet, he sat up against the coach wheel closest to him and surveyed the scene.

"Those things are...gone? I hope?"

Seeing the box next to Mina and the giant duck still in the background, Patrick could only wonder what had happened in the time he'd been out.

"Mina? Did you use the box by any chance?"

Then, trying to asses the situation further, he managed to turn towards Jeannie; "Where's the rest of us? We may need to get a move on here."

And where is our friendly neighborhood assassin? Seems like he went missing before the Embassy caught fire.

* * *

Hearing somebody mutter the word "assasin", Annie felt a bit nervous. Had they seen her? She was only a teenager, and not great at hiding. She also had a terrible memory when she got scared, which is why at that moment she had forgotten why she was hiding in a bush watching people she didn't know talking about a box.

* * *

Patrick slowly got to his feet, feeling very old and creaky all of a sudden. After a few steps taken very slowly as a sort of internal diagnostic, he spied Twilight on the ground and moved to pick her up.

"I wasn't the only one forced to take a nap it seems."

Returning to the coach he placd her inside on the padded seat and turned to Mina.

"My dear, bring the box will you? I'd like you sit here with Ms Twilight until she comes around alright? She's had a bit of a knock and is just sleeping, but she should see a friendly face when she awakes."

Walking toward Jeannie, Patrick asked where the others had gone. She pointed out the form of Broc just a little ways off, struggling to get himself together. The sudden growth of vegetation that he'd managed was effective; Patrick thought he may have walked right passed Broc several times without seeing him.

"And our other cohorts?"

Patrick wasn't sure what had happened to Mark and was growing concerned. A little part of him wondered if Mark hadn't run off on his own...

Something else nagged at him as well: Patrick couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched. It could have been a case of nerves from this latest attack, but he could almost feel the eyes boring into him...

Off in the distance he thought he could hear the sounds of a fairly large cat engaged in personal combat.

* * *

Annie heard the noise too. She was about to look around to see what it was when she felt a spider crawl onto her hand. Despite having been taught to always stay calm, she jumped up and screamed. All the people turned to look at her. "Dammit," muttered Annie.

* * *

Broc screamed when the girl stood up out of nowhere. Everyone noticed he had quite a girly scream. If he could blush he would have. He then flaied his arms around and said

"That didnt happen."

He turned to the girl and said

"Hi, Nice to meet you. I would shake your hand but you'd most likly end up with three hands, one of them not yours, good now i have to go because our mutant cat is being attacked"

Broc rushed off then to go help Snuffles.

* * *

"Umm..." said Annie. In this situation her parents would probably have told her to get away as mysteriously and impressively as possible, but the part of her mind that her parents had tried desperately to get rid of suggested something more along the lines of introducing herself and doing a good thing by helping the strangers.

"Hi, I'm Annie. Is there any way I could help you? I love cats. Especially drowning cats," she shouted after the zombie, then stood there quietly waited politely for an answer. He seems quite nice, she thought. After all, nobody had mentioned a zombie. All I was told to do was to find the people with the box, figure out how to take it from them and go back to Ankh-Morpork.

Oh. That was why I was hiding in a bush.

* * *

The inside of Twilight's head was utter chaos. It was usually like this before she woke up, as her mind was trying to decide whether it should wake up as a human or as a cat, and what it was when it went to sleep. Now, she had a bump on her head, which caused more inner conflict, as to which form was the one with fur and a tail.

It was also having a hard time deciding whether it should even wake up, or stay asleep. So, she partly opened her eyes, still half asleep, which for her meant that there was a part of her mind that was vaguely aware of her conciousness, but had opted to not acknowledge it.

As she turned over, she gave a slight mew, which translated into:

"Okayokay,fivemoreminutes," which always translated into, "I just want to get you off my back, and I'll get up when I want to"

* * *

Patrick recovered from the screams and tried to wrap his brain around what was happening.

Alright. First rogue wolves, then a Hersheban spy, a zombie attack and now this girl shows up in the same place we get attacked by banshees?

Realizing he was being paranoid and blaming it on stress, Patrick tried to welcome the new comer.

"Hello my dear lady. My name is Patrick. This is Jeannie and inside are Mina and Twi- ...er, her cat. How did you come to be alone in the wild?"

Patrick figured Broc would be back in about ten minutes or so, with or without Snuffles. They'd have to get a move on in case any more of those damn banshees were still in the area.

Running his hands through his hair and patting down his robes, Patrick realized just how long it had been since he'd enjoyed a shower. The thought that Ridcully and Rincewind were now probably sitting down to the after lunch, pre-dinner feast stung him.

I hope they choke.

* * *

Broc saw the clearing with Snuffles and the banshees. Without even stoping he tackled the one biting Snuffles and rammed his sword up into its head. The others backed up in shock.

With out losing momentum Broc rolled into an upright position, slung Snuffles over his sholder and went tearing off in the direction of the coach.

* * *

Broc couldnt have come at a more appropriate time, Snuffles was not in a very fit state after all.

Finding himself flung over the shoulder of the zombie, all Snuffles could do was lick the blood off his paws and lips carefully, so as not to impale his own tongue on those annoying teeth.

* * *

Jeannie had stood quietly and watched the group sort themselves out in the chaos after the attack. Perhaps this is why she was the only one who had noticed the girl hiding in the bushes, although admittedly this was helped by her werewolf sense of smell which picked up the human scent.

She wasn't worried though because she also knew that they were surrounded by the werewolf escorts and that in fact her mother was watching the girl from the undergrowth so any threat would be dealt before it became Jeannies problem

She was about to walk over to Patrick and quietly inform him of their mysterious vouyeur when the girl screamed and jumped into sight. Jeannie stood watching her with her arms folded as introductions were made. When Patrick introduced her to Annie, Jeannie simply gave a single nod in acknowledgment. She wasn't usually so unfriendly but she knew the girl had been spying on them and Jeannie didn't take kindly to that

Jeannie was about to ask the girl how she had ended up so far into the wilderness of Uberwald, and more imporatantly how she had ended up here still in one piece but was interrupted by the sprinting shape of Broc carrying Snuffles over his shoulder. The scent of blood was strong on Snuffles and Jeannie was already on edge. The blood scent got her inner wolfs full attention, her eyes flashed a very brief orange as she growled to the others.

"Ok, We are all here now. Everyone get inside the coach before the damn creatures return! I'll drive this time"

She needed some time to calm down and let the blood lust die down, deciding her questions for Annie could wait Jeannie leapt up to the drivers seat and grabbed the reins.

Once everyone was on board the coach she spurred the horses onwards, away from the place where they had been attacked...again.

* * *

"I... can't remember why I'm here. Sorry. Nice to meet all of you!" said Annie. She didn't think there was anything else to do. Lying was another part of this she wasn't good at.

* * *

Patrick again opted to ride on the roof even though his last attempt at guarding the coach hadn't exactly been effective.

As the coach bounced down the trail he could catch the site of the werewolves running through the growth alongside them. Normally something like that would be unnerving, but right now, he'd take it.

Reaching out a hand, Patrick grabbed at the passing greenery and looked at the samples he ended up with.

Nope.

Nope.

Ouch! Ah! Nope.

Aha! Yes!

Rolling the leaves into a ball and squeezing them hard enough to produce a thin liquid, Patrick reached over the side of the coach to the window and tapped Broc on the shoulder.

"Wipe this on the wounds for Snuffles! It will cut down on any infections! I may be able to stop the bleeding if he doesn't start clotting soon!"

Returning to his job of scanning the area for dangers, he realized how impressed he was with everyone so far. They'd been through more in one or two days than most people would see in a lifetime and so far they were all holding up well.

* * *

Broc Took the leaf from Patrick and started rubbing it on Snuffles wound. As he adminstered to Snuffles, he glanced at the new girl.

"You a native of Uberwald?"

* * *

"No. I'm actually completely lost. There was someone else travelling with me for a while, but I think they had to go somewhere else. Are you?"

* * *

Broc gave her a wide smile.

"Yes im Uberwalden and definitly not proud of it. Though i lived in Ankh-Morpork for a long while."

Broc patted her gently on the knee.

"Sorry you got sucked into this crazy adventure with us."

Broc gave her another smile. Something was strange. This girl was making Broc smile WAAAYYY too much for Broc's usual tastes

* * *

Annie smiled back. At least these people seemed to like her. However, the part of her that paid attention to her father and had a tiny bit of talent at her job sensed that not everyone was happy that she was here.

* * *

Maybe it was because she was a watchman which meant that she was naturally suspicious, or maybe it was her instincts telling her something but Jeannie found it incredibly hard to trust that Annie was just an innocent passerby who'd just happened to be watching them from the undergrowth

Jeannie's sensitive hearing could easily pick up the conversation inside the coach, she listened hard for anything that would give her any more information about their newest addition to the group

The coach kept on at a fair pace and eventually Jeannie recognised a few landmarks which told her they were drawing near a village. Jeannie hadn't been here for many years and would have been happy to stay away but the horses needed rest and water and the group could also do with food and time to recharge, so despite her personal feelings she directed the horses towards the village

* * *

The darker part of Annie was even more sure now that somebody disliked her. It wasn't Broc, at least she was sure of that. All these were her dark thoughts, and her normal thoughts were occupied with smiling.

Thoughts about the box crept into her mind now and then, but both sides of her were too busy to notice. They came back into her mind as somebody mentioned that they were nearing a village.

* * *

Feeling the coach begin to move again, Twilight was jolted awake. She looked down at the padded seat, tapping it with her paws a couple of times.

After being assured that she was really here and not in some sort of weird afterlife, (that was only to settle the human part of her), she began to wipe her head with her paw so as to get all the dirt out of her fur. Her paw was halfway to her head when she suddenly noticed the girl, clearly another assassin, and Snuffles bleeding. She turned to the rest of the group

How long was I out?, she mewed

* * *

In the drivers seat Jeannie drove the coach into the village. It was a decent sized village which took plenty of trade from the surrounding smaller settlements, there was an inn just off the market square and this is where Jeannie headed for now.

Once there she stopped in front of the inn and, after grabbing her pack from the top of the coach, climbed down from her seat. She walked ahead of the others into the inn, found a large table with plenty of seats around it and sat down. She was about to motion to the innkeper that they would like to order some food and drink when a movement caught her eye, a man in black was sat in the corner of the room and was watching them intently as he stood

* * *

Patrick walked along with Mina at his side and Twilight curled up on his arm. Mina was catching on as to how things worked and reminded Patrick to bring his bag along so that they could keep the box in there and hidden.

Entering the inn, his eyes tried to adjust to the lighting and he wasn't aware at first of the dark figure approaching.

Well, at least we're not alone in this village. If anyone tries to attack us here there will be witnesses.

* * *

Broc followed the others. When he entered he adjusted his eyes quickly. He sat down next to Jeannie. He fingerd the handle of his sword. and watched the dark figuer come closer. He wishpered to Jeannie.

"You sure we should have stopped here"

* * *

Annie walked a bit behind everyone else. Despite being brought up in darkness, there was still something about the dark figure that made her anxious. She could definitely fight back, but that wasn't what worried her. She was more worried that it was someone she knew and that they would go back to the city and tell her parents that she had been trying to make friends again. She had gotten into dreadful trouble last time she had been polite and friendly to people she was told specifically to be very unfriendly to.

* * *

Jeannie stood back up as the dark figure approached, she slowly approached him and they stood face to face. Then with a sudden movment the figure grabbed Jeannie and laughed as he hugged her. Jeannie returned the hug, smiling she drew back and the figure pulled his hood back off his head. He was a young man, well muscled and stood a good foot or so taller than Jeannie. He had jet black hair which made his striking blue eyes even more distictive, they twinkled as he spoke

"You know when I wrote to you I had hoped for a letter in return, instead I get a personal visit. You always did like to do things the hard way Jeannie"

Jeannie only now rememberd the half-read letter that was still in her pack. Still smiling she pushed him playfully on the arm

"Where's the fun in taking the easy option? Please, sit down. Join us for a while?"

Looking around she realised the other were totally confused at the sight of her embracing a mysterious dangerous looking stranger and realised she should probably explain

"Sorry, it's alright...Alec is an old friend of mine."

She introduced the group to Alec who smiled and greeted each of them in turn

* * *

Broc shook hands with Alec and gave him a relaxing smile. Then he noticed the horrified look on Alec's face.

"ahh, yes those three fingers are mine."

Broc turned to Jeannie.

"Im going outside to keep an eye on the Coach and to relax."

When Broc stepped outside he stood next to the empty coach. and because he thought it was empty he was quite surprised when he was yanked into it.

"Shhh, Broc, Youll blow my cover"

when the hand was removed he wishpered

"Jessica"

"yes, Broc, Its me and before you say anything, the only reason i was with Traq was because i wanted to find out where you had disspered to"

Broc sat up and put his head in his hands.

"Im sorry Jessica, it just that... I didnt think you could have loved me anymore for what ive become."

Jessica hugged him

"Broc i would never loveing you, your my brother"

Broc smiled at that.

"Cmon, i want you to meet my friends."

They got out of the coach headed back for the inn

* * *

Delphine watched everyone from the shadows. Normally she would have been more wary around straight werewolves, but she knew that the Uberwalds and the Adalwulfs were on edge, what with being together en-masse, but she knew they'd notice - and savage - her soon, because Delphine was only half werewolf, she was also half... vampire.

Her only hope for survival was to be accepted by the group, so she went somewhere fairly private, changed into human form, and put on the dress that she'd tied around her ankle before following the group*. She then walked back to the group, and stepping in front of them said,

"Hello, my names Delphine, you've already accepted one random person you've never met before - willing to accept another?"

*Clarification: She had tied the dress around her ankle before following the group.

* * *

Snuffles was feeling better now, at least he could walk. He walked over to the rest of his group, surprised at the fact that no-one in the inn noticed him. They were probably drunk and acknowledged him as a figment of their imagination or sober and reasoned that such an odd being could not possibly exist.

He nodded at Alec and patted the surprised man on the back.

He could not fail to notice his sudden (increased) aversion towards werewolves and slowly edged away from Jeannie, trying not to let all the hairs on his body stand to an end. He also felt that it would be a good idea to cover his elongated teeth with his lips...

* * *

Jeannie watched the latest newcomer approach them, her scent told her straight away what Delphine was. She extended her hand and introduced herself but in a way that was most peculiar for Jeannie who usually shied away from using her family name. Perhaps the scent of vampire was responsible, she realised it was coming not only from Delphine but also from Snuffles. The wolf in her sat up and took notice...a cat that was a vampire? Even Jeannies self control was having problems resisting the temptation. She decided a quick retreat would be the safest option for now

"Hello Delphine, I'm Jeannie Von Adalwulf. I'll leave the rest of the introductions to my friends, please excuse me for a while"

and with that Jeannie beckoned to Alec and they walked to a smaller quieter table on the other side of the room. She knew Alec would have picked up on the diversity of the people in the group...Alec was a Yennork. He was a werewolf who could never shift out of his human form

Sitting down with their drinks Jeannie reached out and put her hand on top of Alecs, she gave him an earnest look

"It's great to see you again, but the small part of your letter that I actually managed to read gave me the impression that things aren't well with you. Please, tell me whats been happening while I've been away"

Alec looked at her intently for a moment, then smiled without humour

"I never could hide anything from you...and yes you're right. Things have been happening..."

And he began to tell her the reason he had sent her that letter

* * *

Patrick was beginnning to feel as if he were in the Regiments during recruiting season.

I know I didn't put up a banner.....

He looked down at Mina and asked if she'd been out banging drums or something when he wasn't looking.

Seating her at the table and placing Twilight on her lap, Patrick extended his hand to Delphine.

"Been watching us long?"

Oh sure, that didn't sound too unfriendly at all....

"Sorry. I'm just a little tired that's all. Have a seat why don't you? My name is Patrick."

As introductions were made all around, Patrick spied what looked like a full kitchen in the back of the inn. Suddenly feeling very hungry indeed he stood and walked toward the innkeeper. A few minutes later he sat back down at the table.

"A small feast should be on its way soon. the 'keeper tells me he makes a wicked beef stew. With some loaves of fresh bread, we should be good for the night."

Whispering to Mina, Patrick told her that there may also be a bit of jam involved at some point and ofcourse, a saucer of cream for Twilight.

"So Delphine, what brings you to this fine ...er...village? Work or pleasure?"

Sitting in the chair closest to the wall, he leaned back slightly and kicked his bag under it. His robes fell down evenly on the sides, hiding it from casual glances. Not that there had been too many of those recently. Most of the patrons were pretending to be very interested in their various cups, mugs and plates - giving the impression of a mass confessional at church; all bowed heads and subdued mutterings.

* * *

Snuffles sat down on a chair and inspected his glass of wine suspiciously. It did not have handles. After thinling for a while he picked the glass up, using both hands and his mouth, and placed it on his paw, palm upwards.

He suddendly felt an urge. Snuffles stood up, raised the improvised saucer into the air and meowed:

'I propose a toast! / Mew Meow Mew! / To... / Mew... / um... / -!*...' He sat down again, embarrased and, with an impressive show of skill, managed to sip all the wine up, spilling only about half of it.

Noticing that the others were staring, some of them even eyeballing, he gave a slight embarassed nod to Sgt Delphine and muttered something on the lines of: 'Do go on... / Mew Meow.'

* * *

Annie watched everyone talk amongst themselves. "Umm, just wondering, what exactly were you guys doing before I met you? I mean, groups usually get formed because they're on a mission or something," she asked, looking curiously at the others.

* * *

"I'm here because of you. The feral werewolves have something against you and... have you ever heard the saying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend"? The ferals are my enemies because... I'm half werewolf and half... vampire. My father was a rogue vampire and my mother was one of the ferals, my father never even met me and my mother - and the rest of the pack - abandoned me because of my vamp blood. And now...I want to help you because I have a feeling that you can do something about the ferals.

Also, having someone around who can fly without using up any of the magic they'll propably need to do something about that little box will probably be helpful for all of you..."

Delphine gulped, there, she'd told them - now she'd either be accepted or savaged and left to die...

* * *

Broc and Jessica were about to enter the Inn when Jessica stopped Broc.

"wait Broc, i cant go in there, but i gotta tell you something."

When Jessica finished, Broc just stared. Without a goodbye, then, Jessica left.

Broc walked in with a dumbfounded exprission on his face. sat down at the table and before anybody could say anything, He began to rapidly beat his head against the table.

* * *

"Who's the girl, and what'd she do to get you this upset?"

D***! Well no-one ever accused me of being tactful, Delphine thought resignedly as she asked the zombie possibly the most tactless question possible.

* * *

Jeannie sat next to Alec, listening to everything he told her. When he had finished she sat back in her chair not taking her eyes away from his

"This is bad Alec, very very bad"

He nodded slightly, and took hold of her hand. Holding it firmly he gave her an imploring look

"That sums it up pretty well. Do you think you can help?"

Jeannie sat in silence for a few moments, making the quiet conversations around them seem to be suddenly louder, then she nodded. The relief on the face of the young man in front of her was apparent. Jeannie was about to say something else when Delphines voice got her attention

Jeannie slowly stood up, and with a grim expression on her face walked over to face the hybrid. Delphine must have worked out that Jeannie was a werewolf, if not from instinct then from the name. Even so, Jeannie briefly let her eyes glow orange, it was a trick she liked to use. It got peoples full attention and reminded them that despite her appearance they were not dealing with a human female but with a dangerous creature of supernatural strength. Jeannie spoke in a low voice

"The ferals are trying to overthrow the noble families, including my own. They have caused my friend here..." she gestured to Alec "...many problems and personal grief. Because of this there has been taken the unprecedented action of a truce between the Von Uberwald and Von Adalwulf families, in order to unite against this threat and to take them to pieces. If you speak the truth and your mother is one of these ferals then I want to know where I can find them"

* * *

Twilight crouched in Mina's lap, looking around at everyone, and only just now realising how many people had joined the group.

Both of her sides were running wild. Housecats didn't like feeling small and cornered, because they were always used to turn their noses up at the world. Her alleycat blood was making her want to get in a fight with someone just to prove that she wasn't small. Her humanside wanted to show itself just so it could be bigger and seem more powerful.

The whole conflict was resulting in Twilight's fur standing on end, and her body violently twitching and growling, in a desperate attempt to keep from turning into a human and trying to claw someone's eyes out

* * *

Patrick tried to calm Twilight by running his hand over her fur and giving her a scratch behind the ear. He'd never had a cat before, but most animals knew friend from foe.

Just then, the first bowls of stew arrived along with several large loaves of bread. He placed a bowl in front of Mina along with some bread and watched as she took a few spoonfuls. He hoped she would like it; something told him it had been a very long time since she had a really good 'homemade' meal. In order to let her eat in peace, Patrick picked up Twilight and set her on his lap, holding the saucer of cream close for her to drink.

He wasn't too sure about what was going on here, but Jeannie seemed okay with her new visitor and Delphine and Annie were settling in with the group. Broc was another matter; he'd seemed intent on guarding the coach and returned just a short time later in some distress.

He listened to the exhange between Annie and Delphine and waited for the other shoe to drop. He could swear he hard a thump somewhere when Jeannie approached. Now, as he watched her, he was glad she'd never glared at him that way.

Deciding to hold his tongue for now, he helped himself to a piece of the bread and dipped it in his bowl of stew.

I thought we had left the rogue wolves behind. I guess they don't give up so easily. Wonder how long this truce is going to hold up.....

"Mina! I do believe I promised you a story. Well now let's see, my days among the Burgles and Wurgles? Or how about the time I was rescued by the Horrible Durddlewurster Beast of Plink? Maybe I could tell you about the day I met the king of Rexacoricofallapetorious?"

Half listening to the others, he pretended to be occupied.

* * *

"I don't think anyone answered my question. You know, the one I asked about why this group came together?" Annie asked, slightly annoyed that nobody was really talking to her. She ate a bit of the stew and waited for an answer.

* * *

"My mother is a feral, but my 'pack' abandoned me as a cub. So I'm sorry, I don't know where to find them. However, I would advise checking caves and caverns. Oh, and Annie, they came together for multiple reasons, but the most pressing ones are the ferals and getting rid of a magic box that can change reality." Delphine got through the whole speech without taking her eyes off Jeannie. The glowing eyes didn't really bother her, but she decided that if Jeannie was going to be like that then she'd just let her canines grow a bit...

* * *

Broc had stopped thumping his head, and was now staring at hes stew. Very slowly He looked right at Patrick and very calmly.

"My sister just told me that when i left i left my girlfriend pregnant. i have a son. im a dad."

Broc then slowly but surly....fainted.

* * *

"So why does that mean he bonks his head against table? Fainting, yes, talking gibberish, gabbling incomprehensibly, yes - but beating his head against a table?" Delphine shook her head in bewilderment and added "Does anyone even know who his girlfriend is? Or was?"

* * *

Patrick almost cringed when Delphine told Annie about the box. He'd rather only speak about it when they were alone, not around strangers in an unfamiliar village.

Was he being too paranoid? Maybe. But after the multiple attacks they'd been through in the last two days, he'd rather be safe than sorry.

"Yes, Annie, we are on a little trip out of Uberwald toward the Rammtops just now. We've been more or less pressed into service by the ArchChancellor of Unseen University and the Commander of AM's City Watch."

Not wanting to give too much out just yet, he tried some more of his stew and looked toward Broc.

"Hold on Broc. Your sister found us? Wasn't she back at the Embassy as well? This isn't good. I feel there has been too much coincidence already. It may be that we've been compromised intentionally"

As an after thought he added, "Congratulations by the way."

This is too strange. I'll have to speak with Jeannie about this. Could be some residual effects of the box when Mina used it to fight off the banshees. If so, I don't think I want to be the one to break it to him.....

Again, he half listened to the conversation between Jeannie and Delphine. He twicthed a bit at the words caves and caverns and began to think they might find themselves on an 'quick errand' before leaving Uberwald altogether.

Well. Would only be fair I guess. Afterall, the families did join together to keep us safe...

* * *

"That sounds interesting. Hope I'm not interfering too much."

* * *

"No, no, not at all! So tell me, you're lost? I heard you say that there were 'others' travelling with you at some point. I was just curious how you ended up in the bushes along side the road."

He had to ask, didn't he? It was the 800 pound gorilla in the room; how did she just happen to be there?

Mina was almost halfway through her bowl of stew and showed no signs of slowing down yet. He was glad. She would sleep well tonight.

"I'm originally from Ecalpon, some ways away from here. Are you from around here?"

He'd begun to relax a bit, probably too tired and in need of some sleep himself soon. He didn't have the best of quarters at UU, but he almost missed it - fewer attacks there he had to admit.

* * *

Hearing Patrick talking to Mina Jeannie reflected on how he really had kept to his word about his young apprentice. She liked the wizard, he was competent with magic which was quite a feat by UU standards and kept his head in a crisis. He was good with the child too, Jeannie had never had much to do with children. The only ones she encounterd were the cities countless street urchins who were usually as much in need of a good meal as they were in need of a clout around the ear. Mina was different though, Jeannie had grown quite fond of her and her youthful enthusiasm for everything. Nothing seemed to phase the little girl, even after everything that had happened in the past few days

Jeannie had been un-easy about the sudden appearance of the newcomers to the group but when Delphine answered Annies question with an exact summary of why the group were together, that un-ease began to transform rapidly into anger.

"That is our own private business, perhaps you would like to explain just how you know so much about us?"

When she saw Delphines teeth lengthen Jeannie simply smirked

"Nice trick but you wouldn't stand a chance. Now normally a feral hybrid with vampire blood would be ripped to pieces within seconds of encountering a true werewolf so perhaps you should consider that fact before stepping up your challenge any further"

Jeannie knew she was acting completely out of character, it was unlike her to act so aggressively but she couldn't stop herself. The wolf in her felt unusually strong, the vampire scents around her were getting on her nerves and she was still wary after the amount of attacks the group had suffered in the past couple of days.

The standoff was interrupted by Brocs announcment. Jeannie was just as bewilderd as Delphine. She shrugged, and stifled a yawn. Patrick was looking tired aswell. Well, they were in an inn, they might aswell book some rooms for the night


	5. Chapter 5

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on December 09, 2007 05:42 PM :

"Well, I was with my parents and one or two of their friends. The adults were the ones who knew where we were going, and they really don't tell me things, me being a teenager and everything.  
We got lost and they went to go look for a village or something.

They told me to stay where I was but I get scared easily and I kept hearing noises so I hid in the bush. Sorry I stayed hiding for so long. I would have stood up earlier but I thought you guys would think I had been spying on you or something. That's probably what you think now," said Annie, looking down unhappily at the end of her last sentence.

[ December 09, 2007, 05:42 PM: Message edited by: AniloracTeatime ]

Posted by **Sgt Delphine** (Member # 5393) on December 09, 2007 06:57 PM :

((When there are *s around a word that means that it would be in italics but I can't figure out how to make words italic yet))

Jeannie:"That is our own private business, perhaps you would like to explain just how you know so much about us?"

"Hmm, let's think, you've been relying on two packs who hate each other more than they hate vampires and talking about your missions completely out in the open!"

Jeannie upon noticing Delphine's teeth:"Nice trick but you wouldn't stand a chance. Now normally a feral hybrid with vampire blood would be ripped to pieces within seconds of encountering a true werewolf so perhaps you should consider that fact before stepping up your challenge any further"

"Really. Well perhaps *you* should consider the fact that I've encountered *true* werewolves before and I'm still here - *they* d*mn well aren't! Oh, and on that subject are you *really* a *true* werewolf? I thought that running away and abandoning your pack made you a lone wolf."

Then all the anger and bitterness she felt at this *perfect* little werewolf, who'd had the choice of staying with her pack and given it up, who had friends, who hadn't had to fight for every thing she had, who wasn't a d*mn hybrid came bursting out. Her eyes went red, her canine teeth became a cross between fangs and CANINE teeth, her ears became wolf ears, she started growing wings, and she managed to yell:  
"Fine, here's your chance to show me - show everyone - how much better a bl**dy *true* werewolf is than a were/vampire hybrid who's had to fight for everything she ever got! Maybe it'll even impress your lad!"

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on December 09, 2007 09:15 PM :

At the sight of Delphine's transforming, Twilight instantly leapt up from Patrick, spilling the saucer in front of her on the wizard's lap, and landed in Mina's lap.

The calico's fur stood directly up, her alleycat fangs bared, and a warning hiss rising from her throat.

_"Mina, stay back, I don't trust Delphine at this point,"_ Twilight's eyes never left the hybrid. A rogue werewolf was bad enough, but a vampire, as well? She had a feeling that a fight between the group was going to break out beofore the end of the day

[ December 09, 2007, 09:17 PM: Message edited by: Blazing Moon ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 10, 2007 03:55 AM :

((to post in italics just use the italics button in the UBB code section. I tried to type the code itself for you but it just makes what I'm typing go Italic ))

The sight of Delphine changing prompted the rest of of the inn occupants to swiftly vacate the building. The rest of the group drew back but Jeannie stood still trembling with pure rage

"You think I've never had to fight!? You know NOTHING!"

This was not the time to tell Delphine about how she struggled to raise herself after her fathers death, how her pack had left her for dead after a hunting accident when she was just a pup and how even now Jeannie was only accepted among her own because she had grown into a powerful werewolf who was feared and respected by most of her family. Alec knew all this, Jake knew some of it.

Right now though Jeannie was too angry to even begin to explain any of it to this creature.

Something inside Jeannie snapped, never had the wolf had such control over her but now all the years of careful discipline and self control meant nothing....she was furious at Delphines words, the wolf wanted blood.

Through clenched teeth Jeannie managed to hiss

"You want to see what I can do?! Then I'll make sure your eyes are the last thing I rip out!"

She was vaguely aware of a strong grip on her arm trying to pull her away but all Jeannie could see through the red mists of rage was the half werewolf half vampire in front of her.

Posted by **Max aka Helicopterpassoverhead** (Member # 3874) on December 10, 2007 04:51 AM :

When Delphine transphormed, Snuffles abrupthly fell from his stool and seemed to spend more time in the air than he should have, for such a short fall. He landed on his feet.  
His hairs stood to an end, he arched his back and, claws at a ready, he let out an instinctive hiss at the two beings. They were making his blood boil and he wasnt really himself since the events in the woods.  
He was ready to lunge, even in his fairly weakened state. His brain had shut down.

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on December 10, 2007 05:36 AM :

Patrick was about to tell Annie not to be too harsh on herself just as Twilight reacted. Before he fully realized what was happening, Delphine was staring down Jeannie, Snuffles and Twilight - more teeth and fangs than he'd seen in one place in quite some time.

His first thought was to protect Mina and anyone else inside the building not directly involved. There wasn't enough room to get between Jeannie, Delphine and the table, so he stood directly behind Mina's chair and held his hands together. He didn't want a repeat of the Embassy as they would be needing lodging tonight, but he'd protect innocents.

In a quiet but assertive tone, he told Annie to stand up and move behind him.

"We're just bystanders in this affair I think. It would be safer behind me."

Mina continued to sit at the table and having finished her stew, looked at others with some curiousity. She didn't seem to understand what was going on, but wasn't fearful either. Patrick figured her recent fight with a banshee had given her new found confidence.

As the last of the patrons ran from the building, he figured it was now or never.....

Posted by **Sgt Delphine** (Member # 5393) on December 10, 2007 06:54 AM :

((I tried pressing the italics button and it didn't work so I decided to stick to putting *s around words ))

"NOTHING?? NOTHING?? Gods f*ck*ng d*mn it I know more than you!! Of *course* you've had to fight! Never mind the fact that only one pack o' weres're gonna try 'n' kill you, while ALL of them bl**dy want to bl**dy kill me!! 'n' hiding the fac' tha' you're a were 's GOTTA be bl**dy easier than hiding the fac' tha' you're a godsd*mn hybrid!! So jus' stop making threats and let's get on with bl**dy trying to kill each other over resentment at each others race in general!!! Maybe while you're at it you can kill a human acause some of 'em wear silver!! Why not kill a dwarf for mining it?!! Why not kill a troll just 'cause he ain't a were?!!!

After this tirade Delphine flew up, her nails lengthening in to claws and dove down straight at Jeannie. Then she sterted strangeling her.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 10, 2007 07:11 AM :

Delphines grip around her neck didn't last long, Jeannie aimed a heavy blow at the hybrids ribs. A loud crack was heard as her fist connected, Delphine was forced back and now the fight got really interesting. Jeannie had been taken by surprise the first time but wasn't about to let that happen again. The pair faced each other again, this time it was Jeannie who leapt. In mid-air she changed in to her wolf form, she wanted to do as much damage as possible and the jaws of the wolf could make a real mess of flesh and bone

The fight must have looked extremely confusing to those who were watching, there was Delphine with the features of both a werewolf and a vampire, and there was Jeannie who was using both her forms to full advantage, dealing heavy blows with her human form and biting anything that came near her in her wolf form. Jeannie had been under Vimes command long enough to have picked up some dirty fighting tricks and as she drove her elbow into Delphines ribs Delphine got in a good swipe with her claws. They scraped down Jeannies side narrowly missing the livid red scar from the knife wound she had received the day before

Now Jeannie could smell blood, her own blood. She was completely incensed with the blood lust, changing again to the wolf Jeannie leapt again, oblivious to anything else except the creature she was attacking

Posted by **Sgt Delphine** (Member # 5393) on December 10, 2007 07:35 AM :

Delphine hissed and...turned into mist??? She wrapped her insidiuos* self around Jeannie's mouth, slowly but surely suffocating her.

((Wonder what Broc's gonna think when he wakes up? ))

*Yes, I know it's spelt wrong

[ December 10, 2007, 07:36 AM: Message edited by: Sgt Delphine ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 10, 2007 08:20 AM :

Jeannie shifted back to human form, this gave her just long enough to pull back away from the mist that was Delphine. Standing up, she was waiting for her chance to attack again when she felt again the strong grip on her arm and Alec pulled her back away from Delphine. She was still angry and tried to pull away, but Alec held her firmly with his right arm. With his left arm he removed his long black cloak and wrapped it around Jeannies scratched and bleeding body. His blue eyes held her gaze,

"Enough…this is not helping anyone"

Jeannie still shook slightly, partly from adrenaline and partly from the rage which was now rapidly cooling after she has poured so much of it into the fight. She nodded reluctantly, and allowed Alec to lead her to a quiet corner of the room. She felt a number of emotions after giving in to the raw primal urge to kill, and one thought that was blazing at the front of her mind was

_I guess that dark part of me never truly goes away._

Jeannie sat down on a well worn dark wooden chair, shivering slightly she wished that she could go back in time a few days to the moment she had met Jake again, on the streets of Ankh Morpork before any of this had happened. Alec put a tankard of beer infront of her, she drank deeply before looking up at him

"I know, I know…I should have kept my temper."

He smiled at her which made her frown

"What?"

Alec shook his head still smiling

"Hot headed, quick tempered, always ready to jump in before thinking….you really haven't changed a bit Jeannie…and I'm glad of it"

She opened her mouth to retort but stopped and smiled despite her intention to tell him off. Taking another swig of beer she nodded toward Delphine on the other side of the room

"She's a good fighter, could be a useful member of the group…if we can refrain from killing each other. Wonder if she'll help us against the ferals?"

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on December 10, 2007 08:59 AM :

Patrick was grateful for the intervention of Jeannie's friend. They'd obviously made a name for themselves already and he was glad it hadn't ended in flames again.

To no one in particular, he said, "Excuse me a second while I see about getting us some lodgings for the night."

Approaching the innkeeper he could see that asking outright for rooms wouldn't go over favorably. After all they'd just emptied the place of all the locals and the night was still young.

Reaching into his robes, Patrick pulled out the 'letter' and handed it to he innleeper while making his request. It hadn't occured to him to ask if the man could read; either he could, or this little trick was more effective than he thought.

"Right you are sir! All you had to do was say so. Give me a minute to check with my son, but I'm sure we can accomodate you and your...friends, sir."

As the man walked away, Patrick turned back to the table and tried to wake Broc.

"Come on broc. Wakey wakey! Time to go to bed. If you can get the coach secured around the back, I'll pull first watch, alright?"

Patrick retrieved his bag fom under the chair and motioned for Mina to bring Twilight with her.

[ December 10, 2007, 09:13 AM: Message edited by: Thumpy ]

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on December 10, 2007 10:15 AM :

Broc was brought back back to the world by Patrick. He waved off Patricks offer.

"I dont need to sleep. you do. i got watch."

Thats when He noticed Jeannie.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!!"

When Broc was informed, he glared daggers at Delphine. But quickly just sighed. and shrugged.

As he walked out to the coach. Broc was thinking that his life couldnt get wierder. What he didnt think was what a STUPID idea that was.

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on December 10, 2007 03:30 PM :

Annie had seen fighting before, but that had been exciting. She hadn't slept in a while, and with all the excitement of the day she felt very tired. She smiled, glad for the idea of sleeping somewhere.

Posted by **Max aka Helicopterpassoverhead** (Member # 3874) on December 10, 2007 03:37 PM :

Snuffles had reacted in a very proper and sensible way (for a cat) to the sudden attack, i.e. by darting out of the inn. When he got outside he remembered the bloodlust and turned around, but saw Delphine dissolving into mist. He decided against entering and trying to fight and suck blood from mist, and walked a few steps away from the inn. He sunk his head into a pile of... something he did not want to know the contents of. That smell could spoil anyones appetite, no matter how big, and no matter what for.  
He proceeded and washed his nose in the horses' watering bowl.  
As he returned to the front of the inn, (the eye of observation can see, behind him, a horse lying on its back, trying to clean out its throat with his hooves), he saw Broc head towards the coach. He went after him, remembering to stand up on two feet, dusted himself off and, once there, gave him a nod.  
_Mew. / At least he doesent contain any blood..._

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 10, 2007 04:07 PM :

Jeannie watched Broc leave the Inn, standing up she was swamped in Alecs cloak but that was probably just aswell seeing as her clothes were in tatters. She walked over to Patrick

"Before we all retire I need to talk to you…please, join me at the table?"

Once they were all seated Jeannie glanced at Alec then began to speak to Patrick

"Alec has asked me for my help. The ferals have caused havoc for him and his family, that's why he's been taking refuge out here. I have some ideas about how to defeat the ferals once and for all, and we can do it out here with the noble families working together to beat the threat…._but_ it will be extremely dangerous. I want you and the others to know exactly whats going to happen so you can make sure you are far enough away"

Jeannie sat back and drained the last of the beer out of her tankard. The barkeeper wasted no time in scurrying over with a tray full of fresh drinks. The poor man visibly shook as he placed the tray on the table and almost broke into a sprint as he headed back to the bar. Jeannie looked at the others and gave an embarrassed shrug, seeing the man so scared did not make her feel good in the slightest

"Anyway, I'll be going out shortly to discuss my ideas with the pack leaders. I want everyone to rest up and I'll talk us through whats going to happen when I return."

And with that Jeannie rose form the table, went outside briefly to fetch her pack from the coach and saw Broc and Snuffles. She told them what she had told the others then returned inside the building. Tonight was going to be eventful…but then the group seemed to attract that sort of thing wherever they went

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on December 10, 2007 05:36 PM :

Twilight sat watching the fight exchanged between Jeannie and Delphine. She knew she needed to protect Mina, but her urge to fight was growing.

As she was about to leap up and get into it, the two of them began to calm down and she felt herself being lifted up by Mina. She began to struggle in the girl's arms.

_"Wait, wait, where are we going? All the action's here"_ she said, but after a few moments, she finally gave up. Looking up, she could see Snuffles walking out of the inn.

_"Pfft,_ she said, _"Coward,"_

Posted by **Sgt Delphine** (Member # 5393) on December 10, 2007 09:58 PM :

Delphine rematerialized as a 'human'.  
Stupid b*tch, she thought, never had to work for anything in her life and now she's going on about being a 'true' werewolf.

"Whoever you are, I have extremely good hearing, and I will help against the ferals, I thought I'd already let you know that. And I won't try to kill anyone unless they challenge me, intimidate me, threaten me or go on about me being a hybrid." She said to Alec.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 11, 2007 03:20 AM :

Alec simply looked at Delphine, then stood up and left the table. He had a quiet word with the inn keeper then went to find his room

Jeannie was starting to get more than a little annoyed with Delpines attitude. She turned to face her before going to find her own room

"If you wish to help us then I will thank you...and if you challenge me again I will fight you. It's that simple. I'll return shortly and if you want to help us then you will need to listen to my orders, if you think you can do that then I welcome you to the group."

She began to wlak off then turned back briefly wiht a grin on her face

"After all, that trick with the mist was pretty cool"

And wiht that Jeannie went to her room to change

Posted by **Sgt Delphine** (Member # 5393) on December 11, 2007 04:14 AM :

*D*mn! I have to take orders from a pure blood?? Well, at least I know she can fight now...*

((Those were the thoughts running through Delphine's head in case anyone didn't realise...))

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on December 11, 2007 07:21 AM :

Mina had been too absorbed with her stew to realise what was going on. As the wizard attracted her attention, she realised suddenly that there was a huge fight happening in the inn. Mina grabbed Twilight and rushed away with the wizard and Snuffles.

"Why're they fighting?" She asked the wizard alarmedly. "Is that person Bad? I don't like fighting much." She turned to Broc  
"Why did you go to sleep when you found out you had a baby?" She asked inquisitively.

She turned to the wizard again "will you tell me more about the Raxacoricafallapatorious please? Will I see one maybe?"

((The code for italics is [ i ] word [ / i ] except for without the spaces so it becomes _word_.))

[ December 11, 2007, 07:29 AM: Message edited by: Mina Harker ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on December 11, 2007 08:23 AM :

Patrick watched as Jeannie left the room and then told the others, "The innkeeper has been nice enough to set us all up with lodgings tonight. Your rooms are upstairs. I guess we'll meet back here at first light?"

As he walked with Mina, Patrick thought maybe he'd better have a talk with Broc soon. If his distress was a matter of excess magic from the box, then it would be better to get that out in the open now. If it wasn't, then this could be potential trouble.

Patrick began telling Mina about the people of Raxacoricafallapatorious as he took her and Twilight to their room. "Oh well, the 'fallapatorians are a very small and secretive people. They live under the flowers in gardens and in the stumps of the forests. Sometimes at night, if you're very still and quiet, you might see them walking through the grass with their tiny torches to light the way."

Entering Mina's room, he placed the bags on the floor near the fireplace and checked that all was secure. "Some of them have learned to live in the city with humans. Very nice and helpful lot, but dreadfully afraid of being caught by us. Have a broken shoelace? Leave it on the floor and in the morning you may find that it was fixed during the night."

Hearing Broc bring the coach around back, Patrick looked out of the window and saw the stableyard; walled in on three sides, good roof over the stables, water and hay for the animals. "They also get along well with cats from what their king told me - don't know why though, you'd think they might get mistaken for mice."

"Alright then, you're set. I'll be right next door; if you need anything, just call out." Taking up the bag, he stopped short and said, "I don't think I thanked you for your help back there. If it wasn't for you we may have all ended up in a bad position. You have a great ability....we just have to find out how to use it correctly."

Leaving the room, he closed the door securely behind him and walked across the hall to his own.

_I hope Jeannie has a good plan in the works. I guess we'll find out in the morning. Then we'll have to see about Broc. _

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on December 11, 2007 10:40 AM :

Broc sat on top of the coach and stared into space, whispering to himself.

" _why me._ "

Broc just wished for old times, when he was alive. He had had a nice easy going job. A good boss. A girlfriend. But now. Now he felt himself drifting from the only family he had left. He felt like he was becoming a burden on the group. Broc stared at the ground lost in his thoughts.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 11, 2007 02:53 PM :

Jeannie entered her room, shut the door behind her and slung her pack onto the small bed. Sighing she sat down heavily on the end of it and finally allowed herself to really think about what was happening. She had the sketchy outline of a plan formed in her mind, but it was risky.

After she had changed into some fresh clothes she stood at the small wash basin in the corner of her room, she filled it with water form the grubby pitcher next to it and splashed the cold water over her face. It wasn't as refreshing as a swim in the river would have been but it was better than nothing.

She wanted to talk to Alec about her idea. Seeing him here had been a surprise but not an unpleasant one. Again she had that feeling of wishing she could change the past, another sad sigh escaped her before she chastised herself for this soppy thinking and left her room via the window. She would arrange things with the packs and then come back to tell the others. Once in the tiny alley beside the inn she stashed her clothes behind a handily placed stack of crates and changed into the wolf. Sniffing the air her ears twitched, her eyes glowed in the moonlight and she silently sluck out of the village to the thick woods beyond

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on December 11, 2007 03:12 PM :

Annie went into her room, closing the door silently behind her. She sat down on the bed and decided to look inside the bag that she had been carrying. She had nearly forgotten what was in it. There was a small dagger (the one she had gotten as a birthday present when she was six), a hairbrush and a note. The note was what she had forgotten about.

"Dear Annie, your father and I hope that you will not forget about this note," she read, and felt a bit embarrased. "As you may have forgotten, you are attempting to bring home an important object. If you come home empty-handed, dead or having comepletely forgotten what to do, you will be in very serious trouble. Yours sincerely, Mother."

Annie folded the letter up and put it into her pocket. Tomorrow she would have to start making proper plans. For now, she just wanted to go to sleep.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 12, 2007 08:00 AM :

The night was clear but a brisk breeze swept through the trees. It ruffled Jeannies fur as she walked, she was deep in thought. One of the things that she was thinking about was the newcomers to the group. Jeannie had suspicions about Annie, the way she had simply appeared and was so keen to join them. She made up her mind to keep a careful eye on the girl. Then there was Delphine, a most unusual creature. Jeannie hadn't decided what to make of her yet, although she could certainly fight well. For now though Jeannie needed to check out a hunch, if it was right they could hopefully stop the ferals…a sudden noise in the darkness ahead got Jeannies attention. She stopped in her tracks

In the moonlight Jeannie proceeded slowly, the breeze was now blowing towards whatever it was in the bushes ahead, which meant that her scent was being carried ahead whilst she couldn't detect any scent to give her a clue as to who or what was just ahead of her. She crouched down, her muscles poised to spring if she needed to.

In a soft low growl Jeannie asked

_Who's there?_

Posted by **Max aka Helicopterpassoverhead** (Member # 3874) on December 12, 2007 01:58 PM :

Snuffles punched Broc jokingly into the arm, in a futile attempt to cheer him up. When he noticed the zombie's expression, he straightened his face, at least, as much as was possible.  
'So what would your problem be? / Mew Meow mew?'

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on December 12, 2007 07:05 PM :

Broc didnt even look at Snuffles. He just shrugged and said

"i really dont know anymore"

Thats when it dawned on him what he had to do. He got up and put his arm around Snuffles. Did the technique work on cats.

"You know Snuffles you-"  
Without warning he coldclocked Snuffles across the head. Snuffles droped to the ground out cold. He would only be out for a short awhile. Rushing, he scrawled a quick note, shoved it under Patricks door, grabbed one of the coachs horses and galloped off.

on the floor the not read this:  
_Patrick, ive taken one of the horses. im sorry, tell Snuffles im sorry. i may not come back. Tell Mina to stay in line and that (here there were tear drops smudging the words) i love her. she reminded me of Jessica when we were both kids. good luck with box_  
_Broc_

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on December 14, 2007 03:52 PM :

Patrick had simply wanted to sit down for a minute and relax; there were no chairs in his room, so he sat down on the side of his bed. Immediately, a wave of exhaustion broke over him and Patrick gave in, laying back on the mattress.

It had been a fairly eventful two days with several attacks, a growing mystery, the tentative truce between the werewolves, a new apprentice, the growing group of travellers....

He almost longed for the boring existence he had lived at UU, but then remembered that he had indeed jumped at the chance to take this little mission. Ah well.

Patrick closed his eyes, telling himself that it would just be for a minute. That's all he needed...a minute. Just resting his eyes....all he needed.....was a......minute.

The small scrap of paper, slipped under the door, would have to sit there just a little longer.

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on December 14, 2007 04:01 PM :

{[(This is veeeeery embarrassing for me...I left everything for it's free will..I am very sorry,but I've got school and beside that I play the piano and the now that this first semester is almost over I've grabbed some free time.  
I don't think I'll abandon my character,because that would mean Orcakeline's death,and I'm really wouldn't do I will try to thing about a explanation for her here goes:)]}

After Orcakeline saw the little Mina go away she continued her straw towards her was exhausted.  
The next day she woke up and drank a thought that after feeding the birds she could start writing a book about how you feel when you loose someone you didn't seem a good idea of a book so she tried then,popcorn went out of her head.  
But was it really popcorn?And how could it come out of her head?That was ate two full fists of popcorn..It actually had butter and salt.  
"Hmmm...not baaaaad,not baaad...If I would thing about it,I would say it's quite good...Wait a sec,I said,''If I would think''...don't I think at all?A...that's why I didn't get a good idea for the ,well,well....what a thing my head gets out...what can pop out of me head..or better said out of me mind..I got it,I'll write a book entitled : "What comes out of our heads?"  
And so Orcakeline started writing about the popcorn and why it had butter(because her brain was covered in all sorts of vines)..But of course you can't write a book only about popcorn so she wrote about a few of her great those ideas will be shown only if you read the she was ready anytime to tell friends about the book  
In fact she was quite proud of her she finished writing it she drew a biiiiiiig smiley face on the last page and gave it to be published.  
As a great relief,everybody thought it was great,so Orcakeline became pretty she didn't fancy to much gold so she tried to give many presents to beggars and to charities.

[ January 30, 2008, 09:09 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 14, 2007 04:37 PM :

In amongst the undergrowth in the dark thick forest Jeannie was crouched down, her muscles ready to spring as soon as they needed to. Her ears were pricked up, her eyes unmoving from the shadow in the undergrowth ahead. She was all too aware that not far ahead of her was an unknown creature, hidden from sight and scent. She could run, this was true but although Jeannie would be the last one to admit it she was just as prideful as most werewolves and the idea of running just didn't even enter her head.

So after another unanswered question was barked into the darkness Jeannie approached the source of the noise…

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on December 14, 2007 05:54 PM :

The very next day Orcakelines book came out,she went to feed the birds...But to her surprise,when she looked down after the statue,she saw nothing but a dead couldn't stand the started to cry like a was helpless,like a kid that was hurt and couldn't find his almost wanted to swear,thing she never was very strict in ugly said one day:  
"I will never swear and harm another living soul,only and only if I am in great danger,or anybody who needs my help!"

Orcakeline was a bird she loved was a tremendous loss.

She couldn't stand the very crowded wanted to go hated the place now she lost three pets(counting Snuffles too).

At 5 p.m. she had her package all packed up and her axe on her started walking and walking....and she continued walking and walking...but after five more hours of walking she said:  
"It's too much...I want ter stop walking...*cough,cough*...An inn...where?.."(sweating because of her loss of water-she finished two pounds of water already)  
Alas,for one more hour,she couldn't find any inn..luckily for her she could still walk 1 mile to the inn..  
After making five steps,she fell on her back and started humming a song neither she knew..It went like this:

"They never give me their money  
They only splash me in the face with their funny paper,  
And in the middle of fights and swings  
They sing the blues(es) only they know(s)...  
lalalalalalala....  
One sweet dream,  
Pick up the packs  
And put it in the laps of the Gods..."

Alas the song didn't really make sense...but it was just a combination between two songs so it didn't really sound that bad after all.

[ January 30, 2008, 09:12 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on December 17, 2007 01:05 AM :

Twilight lay at the foot of Mina's bed, facing the closed door, in case anyone got it into their head to try and attack the small girl while she slept.

Like cats all over the world, Twilight didn't need much sleep, that is she didn't _seem_ to need much sleep. Also, like cats all over the world Twilight slept when everyone's back was turned, so she could be awake when she really needed to be. Now was one of those times.

Twilight wasn't exactly sure how she felt about the group's newest members. One was a friend of Jeannie's, so she supposed that he could be trusted. But, the other two raised her suspicions. The one known as Delphine was a hybrid who seemed to have problems controlling her temper, which put Mina in danger. The other was clearly an assassin, though she seemed similar to Mark, so Twilight supposed that she would just have to wait and see whether or not the girl could be trusted.

As these thoughts went through Twilight's mind, she caught sight of something coming out of a mousehole, and across the floor to where Mina had left her shoes for the night. Those things were _everywhere,_ weren't they? In the darkness, Twilight let out a low hiss, and smiled to herself as the creatures retreated back into the mousehole, completely abandoning Mina's shoelaces. Patrick was right, they usually got along well with cats, but news about cats like Twilight traveled faster than the semaphore towers. As they disappeared from sight, Twilight returned to her duty of guarding the bedroom door

Posted by **Sgt Delphine** (Member # 5393) on December 17, 2007 03:44 AM :

*You should tell them you know.  
Tell them what?  
They want to know about the ferals. TELL THEM.  
NO!*  
After her little argument with the voices in her head Delphine stared at the wall. She decided to check out the mouseholes so she turned into mist and...  
"Ye Gods..." She breathed

((Mina - I tried the code and it didn't work for me, I think that it's something to do with my computer/internet connection))

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 17, 2007 07:17 AM :

The leaf litter that covered the ground of the forest crunched slightly as Jeannie moved in otherwise complete silence. She kept low, moving cautiously. Whatever it was in the undergrowth didn't move as she approached. This meant that it was either unaware of her presence or held no fear at the sight of a werewolf approaching…Jeannie didn't like the second option much

Closer now to the bushes Jeannie finally caught the scent, and she could feel the acid thoughts rise in her mind as she approached more assuredly now and sat down once she was within eye contact. It was hard to believe that someone she had such good feelings for, could have come from the loins of this creature who filled her with such loathing.

She kept her gaze fixed on his, never once breaking eye contact and she spoke managing to keep her voice level despite the hatred and rage that was beginning to bubble as she looked at Jakes father

_Hello Vorick_

[ December 17, 2007, 07:19 AM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on December 17, 2007 04:59 PM :

Mina had been too tired to protest much at the wizard's announcement of bed-time. She flopped straight into bed. But, as Mina slept, arm curled round the box for safe-keeping, her influence began to slip off it while she dreamed. She dreamt of the raxacoricafallapatorians, the nargs and many other strange creatures. She dreamt colourful happy dreams of adentures to come and many new talking animals.

Her control over the box weakened, and it started to leak. Mina was not wakened by the transformation of her bed into an enormous custard cream, but by the weird chittering of evil magical deformed monsters appearing in her dreams, monsters that could not be defeated by magic. Mina awoke screaming.

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on December 17, 2007 05:58 PM :

Twilight was brought immediately out of the light doze that she'd earlier allowed herself to fall into. As she shot up at the sound of Mina's screaming, she felt the slight warp in reality as the bed reverted back to it's normal state.

Losing no time, Twilight bared her fangs and claws, ready to attack, when she realized that no one was hurting Mina. When the girl stopped screaming, Twilight hopped off of the bed and transformed into a human. Brushing her own fur off of the purple dress, she sat down beside Mina on the bed, and stroked the girl's hair. She was resisting the urge to lick the girl, as Twilight's mother had always done for her.

"Mina, what's wrong?" she said, holding the girl to keep her from shaking, "Are you allright?"

[ December 17, 2007, 06:01 PM: Message edited by: Blazing Moon ]

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on December 18, 2007 10:24 AM :

In the middle of the night,Orcakeline shakes in the dark...She almost friezed to death.  
With a great effort she picked herself off the wet greenish ground and as in a dream she went to the innkeeper.

"Who's there?"  
"I'm a dwarf who needs rest and hasn't eaten for 2 days!Please let me in!I'll pay a room!"  
"Oh,ok.." replied the innkeeper.. "It's just not normal to come at such a late hour of the night!I got in and help yourself to a cup of coco."  
"Thank you.."

So Orcakeline found a room and went upstairs ..She wasn't entirely aware of the inn she was in.  
She stood a couple of good hours in bed and watched the wasn't a very foggy night.  
When she fell asleep at last,she heard a child scream and afterwards another voice that was trying to calm down the little girl.

"Odd,I thing I recognize that voice...actually,the two of them.I'll search the place tomo...."..*snooor,snoooor* went was exhausted so she yet again fell asleep.

But who knows what tomorrow would reserve for her?

[ January 30, 2008, 09:14 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 18, 2007 01:40 PM :

In the forest Jeannie sat in front of the very werewolf who was responsible for the death of her sister. Nothing about her composure revealed what she was really thinking, and the urge to attack was severely restrained by the quiet yet unmissable presence, behind Vorick, of the large black wolf who seemed to be the Von Uberwalds personal guard

She remembered the first time she had encountered this bodyguard, back on the streets of Ankh Morpork when he had given Jake the message about the ferals. Jeannie would happily return to the city now, but her mission was far from complete. She wondered how long it would be before, and indeed _if_ she would return to the city. Another thought was troubling her aswell, she hadn't voiced it yet to the rest of the group but she was worried about Jake. She hadn't seen him since the attack on the coach, and although she knew he was more than capable of taking care of himself she was becoming increasingly concerned about him.

Perhaps he had joined with the escort? She was about to ask when a noise interrupted her. Her mind turned back to the events in hand. Despite her distaste for him, she had to ask Vorick for his help

As much as it pained her, she took a deep breath and swallowed her loathing as she asked her most hated enemy for his assistance…

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on December 18, 2007 02:19 PM :

Patrick had gone from sleeping soundy to standing up instantly at the sound of Mina screaming. He didn't know where he was or what time it was, but ran toward the sound of the scream.

Opening the door of his room and stepping out into the darkened hall he ran to and opened the very first door he saw.

The fire was low in the grate but gave him enough light to see by. He made out the figure of Mina sitting up in the bed and another person next to her that he could only assume was Twilight. Patrick never woke up well.

"'s wrong?"

A quick look around the room didn't show anything too obvious and if he hadn't seen them sitting on the bed, he might have thought it was just a dream.

"Everyone alright? What happened?"

Standng there, he realized that Jeannie was probably still out. If she'd been in her room, she would have come running at the sound....

_I hope she's okay._

Another thought hit him almost as quickly.

_Where's Broc? I know he would have torn the place apart to get here!_

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on December 18, 2007 02:22 PM :

Annie had woken up when she heard the little girl's scream. She got out of bed and walked over to her door, trying to hear what was going on.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 18, 2007 02:46 PM :

Whether Vorick gained any satisfaction from Jeannie asking for his help was unclear, he was completely unreadable. Once the brief conversation had been concluded Jeannie continued on her way safe in the knowledge that, should her hunch turn out to be right, the Von Uberwalds would indeed work with the Von Adalwulfs and help carry out her plan.

After a short run through the trees Jeannie at last came to her destination. When Delphine had mentioned caves and caverns it has sparked an old memory of Jeannies. She remembered an unusually large and complex cave system not very far from the village, she had explored some of it as a youngster and could even now recall the frantic searches for other people who, unlike Jeannie, couldn't rely on an excellent sense of smell to point them back towards daylight. The caves were dangerous, twisting and dark….a perfect hideout for a group of feral werewolves perhaps?

Jeannie didn't have to draw too close to the large cave entrance to know that her hunch was right, the place stank of the scent of the rogue pack. Satisfied that she had found the right place and unwilling to be discovered alone by the feral pack she turned and made haste back towards the village and the inn where the others were resting.

She slunk down the alley, and shifted back to her human shape. Once she had retrieved her clothes from behind the stack of crates and got dressed Jeannie jumped, higher than a human could have done, and grabbed the sill under the window to her room. She effortlessly pulled herself up and swung her legs up and over into the room. Shutting the window behind her Jeannie then heard footsteps heading towards Minas room. Frowning she silently opened the door and listened, she relaxed when she heard Patricks voice in Minas room and she walked down the hall and knocked on the door before entering

"Is everything ok?"

[ December 18, 2007, 02:48 PM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on December 18, 2007 03:27 PM :

"She had a nightmare...I think. She seems to feel it was something very real. I think she'll be alright, Twilight is here with her."

Walking over to the table, he poured Mina a cup of water and gave it to her with a promise that he would be right back.

Motioning for Jeannie to follow him, he walked out into the hall. He wanted to know what she had found out, what her plan was going to be. he also wanted to tell her about his fear for Broc; his recent 'troubles' could have been caused by residual magic from the box.

As he stood in the hall, something caught his eye and looking down he spied a folded piece of paper near his door. Reaching down and then unfolding it, he quickly read the note and groaned as he handed it to Jeannie.

*Patrick, ive taken one of the horses. im sorry, tell Snuffles im sorry. i may not come back. Tell Mina to stay in line and that i love her. she reminded me of Jessica when we were both kids. good luck with box  
Broc*

"That's what I was afraid of. He saw or heard something that got under his skin and....wait. Why would he have to say sorry to Snuffles? What could - Oh crap! He took a horse!"

Running down the stairs and out the backdoor of the inn he made his way to the stable yard and the coach. there, on the ground next to the coach, was the still form of Snuffles.

Kneeling down next to him, Patrick could hear the soft, regular breathing that told him Snuffles was alive. Grabbng him under the arms, Patrick dragged him back into the inn.....

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on December 18, 2007 04:05 PM :

Even though Orcakeline fell asleep right after the scream,a few minutes afterwards she woke up yet again ,hearing some funny noises that told her that something was happening out side,in the stables probably.  
She got dressed and put her axe on her belt around her an old and quit long blouse beneath her big pullover and a rather rusty pear of black jeans ,she went through the inn...  
In the room that was positioned the fourth after hers she saw the door open and a few people in hid her axe under the blouse ,seeing the little girl from that day..that day she got loooost..hmm...she didn't remember what happened exactly so she knocked on the door.  
Nobody said anything.

"Hmm...they must've thought I'm a thief..." thought Orcakeline.

"Err..Anybody in there?"

[ January 30, 2008, 09:16 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on December 18, 2007 04:21 PM :

(so while Broc is off on his errand, enter strange new character, oh and my question mark button is broken.)

Samson stayed in shadows and watched the goings on of the group. When he saw the one named Patrick bring in the mutant cat (snuffles was his name) Samson got up and followed. while Patrick attended to Snuffles, Samson decided on the spot that he was going to help. Samson walked up behind Patrick and Jeannie and said

"I know Where Broc went."

Samson stepped out of the shadows and they saw a young man, no more than 18, with a cross bow on his back, a bandalore of bows acroos his chest and two pistol bows in holstors along his waist. But his face was still hidden by the wide brimmed hat

"Though ive never met him-" here he looked up and he had the same dark green eyes as Broc

"-i know alot about my father."

[ December 18, 2007, 04:23 PM: Message edited by: SGT. Knocker ]

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on December 18, 2007 05:16 PM :

After Patrick had left the room, Twilight continued in her attempt to comfort Mina. After a few moments, she heard a knock at the door, and she froze. Hearing the call from outside, she turned back to Mina.

"Mina," she whispered, "Stay here" Trying to get off of the bed while making as little noise as was possible, Twilight transformed back into a cat, and slunk across the floor.

Peering under the crack of the door, Twilight could see the bottoms of a pair of shoes. She turned her ears every which way, trying to pick up any sound. She could hear from the breathing that whoever was outside this door was a girl. They clearly were not an assassin, for if they were an extremely bad one, especially for knocking, first.

Finding no threat in the person's presence, Twilight nudged open the door with her nose to reveal the dwarf

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 18, 2007 05:25 PM :

Jeannie had followed Patrick to the prone form of Snuffles. He seemed to be alright and they made him as comfortable as they could inside the inn.

When the stranger suddenly spoke behind them Jeannie whirled round, tensed to fight. Her expression quickly turned to one of confusion then realisation as what the young man had just said finally sank in

"Your father? Broc is your….?"

Jeanie wasn't exactly at ease at the sight of the extremely well armed young man, but he didn't seem to be a threat so she fought against the urge to let her teeth and claws grow and then finally nodded and shrugged

"Okay then, we would appreciate your help in finding Broc…and our horse. But there are other issues to be dealt with as well. I think myself and my companion need to have a discussion. There are many issues at work here"

Jeannie sat down at a table and motioned for Patrick to do the same,

"There are many things going on right now but I think the most pressing is to dispense of the threat from the feral pack. I think I know a way we can do this, then we can turn our attention to the other matters going on here…also our journey whilst in Uberwald will become an awful lot safer if we no longer have to worry about the rogue wolves."

The inn keeper at this point, obviously schooled in the art of customer satisfaction, especially when those customers happen to include a werewolf, a wizard, a zombie, a heavily armed young male and a vampire/werewolf hybrid, scurried over with drinks. Once he had set them on the table and hurried away Jeannie continued after taking a long swig from the tankard in front of her. After all, running through the forest had made her thirsty

"I've spoken with Vorick and I think I've located the feral den. The werewolf families are ready and willing to make the strike…all that needs to be done is to set the trap…"

Before she could continue Jeannies sensitive ears picked up the sound of knocking, it sounded like it was coming from Minas room. Jeannie had grown very fond of Mina and couldn't help but feel protective over the little girl, she looked at Patrick.

"Someone's knocking on Minas door, if we are all here then who is it?" She didn't wait for an answer before walking briskly upstairs to the little girls room

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on December 18, 2007 05:29 PM :

Orcakeline had her eyes covered with her hands when the cat came out of the was didn't know what awaited her.  
Hearing so many voices she peeked through her fingers and saw people running towards her.

"Please,don't kill me!"

[ January 30, 2008, 09:17 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on December 18, 2007 08:03 PM :

Twilight saw Jeannie coming up as she opened the door, and turned back to the dwarf. The poor girl looked terrified. To assure the dwarf of her safety, Twilight reassured her in the only way that a cat could. She rubbed up against the dwarf's legs and purred

_Don't be scared,_ she said in her feline language, _We're good people_

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 19, 2007 03:30 AM :

Jeannie slowed as she approached the door and saw the terrified little dwarf. She stopped and looked intently at the dwarf

"I know you...you're from the city. Please, don't worry, no-one is going to hurt you"

Posted by **Max aka Helicopterpassoverhead** (Member # 3874) on December 19, 2007 05:03 AM :

Snuffles woke because of his tongue almost being impaled with his lengthening teeth.  
He straigthened up, rolled over, so that his tail wouldnt be squashed between bed and torso, rolled over again, so as not to face the bedsheets, and hit the ground.  
He jumped up, almost rushed into the general direction of the hybrid, refrained, leapt over the dwarf (who seemed vaguely familiar) and ran towards the innkeeper.  
'Hello, my good man / Meow Mew meeeargh.' he croaked, trying not to give the impression that he was a blood-crazed mutant, talking cat. 'Hand me one of tho... / Meow / BLOODY SAUSAGEEE!!!!! / Meow Meow.'  
The innkeeper was staring at this newly-arrived ... thing and was also confused by this queer swear-word, when ancient innkeeper-ish instincts took over and he produced the wanted meaty product from somewhere behind the counter and threw it to Snuffles, who sank his teeth dreamily into the sausage.  
_That will have to do for now..._  
Heading automatically towards the room, he only noticed the dwarf when he was already inside.  
He nonchalantly meowed a little tune, made a gesture as if he'd tip a hat towards the dwarf, shook his/her hand vigorously and suddendly appeared to be very interested in the inn's incredibly dull stone wall.

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on December 19, 2007 06:50 AM :

Orcakeline tried to calm a little bit ,she took a biiiiiiig peek in the room,she unfolded her arm and even thou a second ago she thought of kneeling in front of Jeannie,she just stood and stared.

"I'm er,sorry to interrupt ,but I heard familiar voices,plus I wasn't sure where I ended up tonight.I thought people....and cat ...cat-people! you're not just a cat..We,dwarfs still have a little ancient feeling when something isn't right...and..act'lly everybody sleeps at this hour of the the first place I heard that was a girls voice I ...now I recall indeed are a cat-person.I saw you transform in that are all of you doing here?  
"Wait,what am I doing here?  
"And you" facing Snuffles, "You are that cat I lost when I was a kid!It was only my fault.I recognized you by your eyes.I was such a bad owner.I let you go now you hate me!!!"

And the dwarf started weeping,with big watery crystal-sized ,almost sky-blue autumnal tears.  
It was quit a funny sight.

[ January 30, 2008, 09:18 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on December 19, 2007 03:18 PM :

Patrick had followed Jeannie up the stairs to Mina's room without question, although h wasn't too sure what to do about the new arrival.

_His son?_

Entering Mina's room, it was clear that it had suddenly turned into group headquarters.

He had trouble following the story that the dwarf told, but, he reminded himself, he had spent several months basically locked up in UU.

_She is..or was Snuffles' owner? What are the chances of her finding us here? This just keeps getting stranger..._

Sensing that there was no immediate danger, Patrick suggested that maybe they could all meet downstairs in order to let little Mina get some sleep.

He asked if Twilight would mind staying with her for a bit longer and that he would be back as soon as possible.

"I'll sleep in the chair here, so that you can rest as well."

He was grateful for Twilight being with her and was also appreciative for the quick reaction by Jeannie.

He thought about what Jeannie had said and the word 'trap' kept running through his mind in search of something to connect with.

_Oh ho! Wait a minute....Nah, she wouldn't....Would she?_

Somehow Patrick knew this little adventure was about to get more interesting. He was all for eliminating the feral wolf threat but it was that word 'trap' that worried him.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on December 19, 2007 03:28 PM :

Samson, after listing to Jeannie, shrank back into the shadows. He cotemplated how to get rid of the Fearl-awww yes Sgt. Blackwood had showed him that trick. Samson walked up to the bar and dropped a bag of coins and asked for what he needed. The bartender complied quickly. The bartender made a mentel note that when someone smiled like that, and asked for three bottles of his strongest liqouer, it cant be good things thier thinking

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on December 19, 2007 03:42 PM :

Seeing she got almost everybody's attention downstairs ,Orcakeline started saying her story:

"My name is Orcakeline ..A quit long time ago I saw almost each one of you in Ankh-Morpork .And there was a little girl who tried to make the cat-women and the other tomcat drink water from a puddle.I tried to get a single information,but I failed and I scared the little Mina.I wanted to know where the tomcat I saw the cat-women transform in the when I saw Jeannie talking Mina home I said she'll be fine so I went back home where I wrote a book about what comes out of your while I was focusing popcorn came out of my head"And seeing the big smile almost about to come into a laugh on the others faces the dwarf said:"And don't 's afterwards I saw someone killed my pet now I am depressed and so I left home because it recalled to many sweet I walked very much the day I left and now I ended up here."

[ January 30, 2008, 09:19 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on December 19, 2007 04:34 PM :

Mina was recovering from the dream that had seemed so real and frightening. She barely noticed the arrival of the dwarf, but she did hear the wizard mention that she had to go back to sleep.

Mina started crying again, "Can't sleep! The monsters will come back! Don't wanna! I don't waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh! th-th-the magic will come baaaaaaack! and s-s-so will the moooooonsters! Don't waaaaaaaaaaahh! I c-c-'t!"

She knew that something bad would happen if she went to sleep, and the terrifying monsters to which there was no solution would come back.

Posted by **Max aka Helicopterpassoverhead** (Member # 3874) on December 19, 2007 04:49 PM :

Snuffles retreated into a corner when his disguise was dismissed.  
'I necer actually _liked_ you. Its just bloody instincts... / mew meow mew me...' he muttered to himself defensively.

After Orcawossname had finished rambling he said, embarrasedly:  
'She didnt always ramble like, that... its new to me too, you know? / Meow!'  
He curled up besides Mina, realised this would mean showing obedience to someone else, stood up and started wandering aimlessly around the room, trying to radiate independence.

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on December 19, 2007 05:27 PM :

_"You can't blame her, Snuffles,"_ Twilight mewed, as she hopped up onto the bed and settled down beside Mina. _"How would you feel if you suddenly lost someone who was your friend?"_

Getting comfortable on the bed, Twilight turned back to Mina, smiling as much as a cat could.

_"It's allright, Mina,"_ she mewed, _"You don't have to go back to sleep if you're really scared, but if you do I'll be here to make sure you're safe,"_

After a few moments, Twilight seemed to remember something.

_"Where were you all night, anyway?"_ she asked, turning back to the mutant tomcat

[ December 19, 2007, 05:28 PM: Message edited by: Blazing Moon ]

Posted by **Max aka Helicopterpassoverhead** (Member # 3874) on December 19, 2007 05:44 PM :

'Meow mew meow / passed out... Broc's fault... dunno why...'  
This time the cattish speech dominated over the human one.  
He continued to do various aimless activities.

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on December 20, 2007 08:46 AM :

Patrick was glad they had the inn to themselves tonight - with all this activity there would undoubtedly be curious onlookers.

He had been with everyone downstairs as Mina started to cry. He knew she was serious about not being able to go back to sleep and figured he couldn't blame her really.

Going back to her room Patrick had to interrupt the trio as he made sure Mina was bundled up and brought her downstairs to the assembled group.

"Come on Twilight, Snuffles, the party's down here."

As always, the box made the trip as well.

_The box._

Patrick wondered if maybe the thing was getting to be too much for Mina to hold onto all the time. He would speak with her about it and find out what she meant about 'monsters'.

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on December 20, 2007 12:49 PM :

Annie heard everyone's voices and decided that it might not be a bad idea to join them. She went downstairs and looked around. "Would someone mind telling me what's going on?" she said.

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on December 20, 2007 03:12 PM :

Well,hearing the disgusting voice of Snuffles ,Orcakeline suddenly appeared to be veeeery sad and looked in Twilights eyes and saw something that almost looked like she was furious because of Snuffles cue so she just said:

"Thank you,er...Twilight for defending I guess I am not welcomed here"

And so Orcakeline lowered her could plainly see she was about to eat a dog,she wouldn't,but that's the second part.  
Remembering the little Mina was there she didn't take any act,she just allowed two tiny tears (but being reminded that dwarf tears are big-and some tiny dwarf tear are as big as a fingernail) cover her cheeks.

[ January 30, 2008, 09:21 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on December 21, 2007 01:46 PM :

Patrick sat there through the Snuffles/Orcakeline conversation almost without a thought until he saw the big tears on the little dwarf.

He'd fought aginst rioting mobs; battled a dragon once and nearly won; he'd been chased by a mob out for his blood and survived any number of other hardships. The only thing that could knock him off balance was a good sniffle or a couple of strategically placed tears. It's how Mina had ended up as part of the adventure afterall.

Patrick reached into his robes and produced a clean cloth for the dwarf to wipe her eyes with.

"I'm sure he didn't mean...all of it. A cat is a very independent animal indeed and sometimes they don't understand how we can become attached to them - or claim ownership."

Hoping that he'd done a bit of damage control, he turned to Annie and tried to answer her question.

"Well, there seems to a bit of trouble with some local...er...trouble makers and our fearless Jeannie may have a way we can deal with them. Doing so will not only help the others that have to live here, but will also assist us on our way out of Uberwald."

Thinking he'd answered the question without giving away too much, Patrick turned back to where the others were and waited to hear the plan.

It was that word 'trap' that kept bugging him.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 22, 2007 07:16 AM :

When she had left Mina room Jeannie had gone to talk to Alec, she knocked on his door. After a brief wait he opened it and she entered. There was a muffled conversation with one or two raised voices before all went quiet and Jeannie left the room to find the others.

Finding a suitable spot she leant against the walll with her arms folded. Jeannie watched the exchanges between the group, saying nothing she simply waited and ran over her idea again and again in her mind. When it all went quiet she began to speak.

"You all know of the feral werewolves."

There were a few nods amongst the others

"They are trying to overthrow the noble families, we all know this. Alec is from one of the families not far from here, the ferals have killed his father and corupted his brother. The rest of his familiy managed to escape, Alec has no idea where they are and has vowed to remain and deal justice to the rogue pack before setting off to find them."

Jeannie saw the looks on the faces of the group, and realised that they probably hadn't guessed Alecs true nature. She sighed

"That's right, Alec is a werewolf...he's what is known as a yennork. He can't shift out of human form, but let me assure you he can fight as fiercely as any wolf."

She shifted slightly, changing to a more comfortable position

"I have been out to the surrounding forest, and I'm pretty sure I've found the feral den. The scents are fresh so a strike needs to be made quickly before they can make one of their own. The presence of two of the most powerful families in Uberwald won't have gone un-noticed by the rogue pack...I suggest a trap. An age old strategy, place the bait then ambush the prey when it comes to take it. However, the ferals aren't stupid and I don't think they would completely fall for it but they won't be able to resist the bait. So there is going to be a little twist to this trap........"

Jeannie was interrupted by footsteps approaching them......

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on December 22, 2007 08:21 AM :

Orcakelines soul still was half of a child' actually understood what Patrick even stopped crying.

"Thank you for the *drawing her nose* ..the handkerchief.I almost understood all you said.I am sorry if I made anybody mad,and if I wasted your still,what should I do next?Where should I go?  
"Like in the song that says:

Out of college,money spent,  
See no future,pay no rent.  
All the money's gone,nowhere to go  
(Nowhere to gooooooo)  
"I guess you know better than 're grown ups and you have responsibilities.I'm just parents died a long time ago.I live by me own in a little apartment in Ankh-Morpork.  
"But I shouldn't start talking to much,because then Snuffles will say I'm babbling.  
"It's now up to you to decide what should I do."

[ January 30, 2008, 09:28 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on December 22, 2007 12:53 PM :

Jeannie had stopped just short of explaining the 't' word and patrick nearly fell out of his chair when she did so.

_This is torture!_

He realized that whatever was going to happen would have to be acted on quickly and once again, he found himself almost longing for his warm bed back at UU.

Listening to Orcakeline, Patrick figured that she was lost in more than one sense of the word. She needed direction and a feeling of family.

_We may be slightly dysfunctional, but right now I guess we are a kind of 'family'._

He looked at the little dwarf and tried to sound comforting, even knowing that the next few hours could be dangerous indeed.

"You stay with us for as long as you like. I'm sure you will fit in just fine. We can use all the help we can get on this little adventure."

Desperately waiting for Jeannie to explain the rest of the mission, he asked the innkeeper for something hot to drink for all. The night air was cool and the fire was dying down....

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on December 22, 2007 01:36 PM :

Very delighted of the answer actually,Orcakeline tried o improve a a matter a fact,she was a pretty large one  
The dwarf was actually pleased she could now talk to another (not in all cases but in a few-human)being.

"Oh thank you so much mister,er...er...Good person!I promise I'll do my in a foggy night I will be there to attack the one who do not let us continue our mission,in the desert,at the seaside,in the middle of the night,in the big mountains and throe the dungeons and on the bridge,I will be there with my soul and I will defend whoever needs my help!  
"And when time will come for me to give a mighty big hand for me friends,I will give more than one hand,me hand and meself will make a thousand hands and a million brains!That time will come,and I hope I will be of more than a little help!"

Facing everyone one after another ,Orcakline went on with not so much glee.

"As a matter a fact...I guess I should in the first place know what I have to do and I should as well know how I could be of _any_ actually,first of all,I should shack hand with each one of you having a good time meeting everyone."

[ January 30, 2008, 09:30 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 22, 2007 01:59 PM :

Alec approached the group and sat down without saying a word but with his gaze fixed pointedly on Jeannie. His usual smiling composure was gone and he waited for her to continue. Jeannie wraped her hands around the hot drink the inn keeper placed infront of her and continued, trying to ignore the angry glare from her old friend

"As I was saying, there needs to be more than a simple ambush. We need to cripple the pack to the point that they can _not_ strike back. There will be a leader...an alpha male." Jeannie hesitated and looked at Alec who gave her a sad nod, she carried on "The leader will stay in the caves, he is the sort to give orders not to involve himself in the actual bloodshed. We need to get to him aswell as take out the lesser members who have been carrying out the attacks. But we need to make sure that as many of the ferals are away from the den as possible before anyone can go into the caves to take out the leader. So my plan is this...."

She stopped and took a good gulp of the sweet hot cocoa, feeling it's warmth spread inside her she licked her lips, then grinned at Patrick. Despite the severity of the situation she couldn't resist teasing him, he was obviously dying to know what her plan was

After cruelly keeping them in suspense for a moment longer than the moment really called for, Jeannie continued

"Alec has bravely offered to be the bait for the first part of the plan, once in the forest I will send out a howl to the werewolves who are on our side. The ferals will hear this and they _will_ come almost immediatly, because the howl will mention Alec." another glance at Alec, Jeannie wondered if she should explain the finer details of the leader to the group but decided that too many details were unessecary right now and besides they could ask if they wanted to know, so she carried on wiht the plan "The noble families who are escorting us have been briefed on the signals already and will know this is a signal to get ready to ambush the ferals as soon as they arrive. The location I've selected is perfect for this, I'll explain why later."

she stopped, drank some more of the cocoa and spoke again

"Whilst this is happening I will go to the den, with some other werewolves from the families. We will find the leader and hopefully take him down along with any other ferals who have stayed behind. If we fail then we will have at least failed striking at the heart of the threat to the families and to Uberwald"

She sat back, having given the others the bare bones of her plan. Fine details could be explained later but first she had to say somthing else

"I don't wish to endanger a single one of you, I have sworn to protect some of you and I do not expect you to help challenge the feral wolves...unless of course you want to."

She looked questioningly at the others......

Posted by **Max aka Helicopterpassoverhead** (Member # 3874) on December 22, 2007 03:27 PM :

Snuffles gave Patrick a nasty look when he approved of Lil' Orcs staying with the group.

He hadn't really listened to what had been said. When the sudden silence after Jeannies question followed he just shrugged at her, as if to say: 'Sure, sure, whatever you say...'

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on December 22, 2007 03:31 PM :

Annie stayed quiet, watching everyone intently. She would much rather have been asleep but with all this important stuff happening she thought it was a good idea to pay attention.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on December 22, 2007 05:21 PM :

Samson Listined to Jeannie. At the end he snorted.

"Good luck to you Alec, all of you. Me and my partener were sent here to kill the ferals too.-" Here Samson eyes went blank and "- we tried to set a trap for them too but....but they tricked us. my partner didnt make it. There had to be at least of 50 of them." Samson pulled the box of liquoir bottles to him. Now the bottles had a rag stuffed inside the top and the rags were soaked with some of the drink. He handed them to Jeannie and Alec

"If bad turns to worst, light the rag on one of the babys and chunk it at them.... If i hear one of them go off ill run in and cover your back."

Samson sat down and started methodicly sloting arrows into his Crossbow and Pistol Bows.

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on December 22, 2007 06:49 PM :

Mina gradually quietened down as she was carried down to the other room and realised that she was not expected to sleep after all. She looked curiously at the dwarf that she seemed to recognise from Ankh-Morpork. She didn't know what to make of her, but since she was sad, and the wizard seemed to trust her enough to join them, she ventured a shy.  
"'lo"

Mina was feeling overwhelmed again, there were too many strange people that she did not know. Mina remembered what her mother had said about strange people. After all the excitement, she now had time to realise how different this was to home.

"aohhh!" Mina yawned, she was tired. She struggled to keep herself awake, and distracted herself by telling off Snuffles.  
"Bad cat-man! You're very rude to Orc'line. S'not nice to say bad things..." She turned over to Orcakeline and said "s'all righ' Snuffy dsun't mean it, he's jus' being mean at the moment. Aaoohh!" Mina yawned, and feeling that she was falling asleep, shook herself awake again.

She looked at the man who had just spoken. He had lots of weapons.  
"Who are you?"

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on December 22, 2007 07:47 PM :

OOC: Well it's been a very long while so this might seem like I am slipping Jake back in and I'm sorry. I am aware that I have missed a great deal and if there are people who don't want me in this anymore then please PM me and I will stop posting. For now however here we go. The post might not be great but hopefully a start

IC:

It might have been rude, but Jake had feigned tiredness and avoided the gathering in the common room. He had been distant from the rest of the group for a few weeks now and the arrival of Alec and Delphinn were merely another strain. In these sorts of time any new face was one to be mis-trusted but for now there was little he could do about them.

He had decided that staying within the confines of his room was far too constricting and now stood a small way out of the village, his warm and well made cloak flapping slightly in the evening breeze. He could smell the ferals on the air and knew that there was a group close, probably had been trailing them since they had left the embassy.

"Well Uberwald it looks like you've done well for yourself."

Jake did not act in the least surprise, in fact not the smallest of muscles moved, instead he continued to stand is though he hadn't been spoken to. Finally though he spoke, seemingly to the forest before him.

"Not bad for an illegitimate heir I suppose."

Silence fell between Jake and the hidden figure.

"You owe us you know Uberwald. We took you in, we made you part of our pack when your own family ditched you."

It was stated coldly with no hint of anger or maliciousness, the voice was merely stating a fact.

"I might have once, but you attacked my family and you attacked those I had partied up with. Your leader wants to destabilise the whole of Uberwald."

There was a snarl from the shadows

"Think what you will, your debt still stands with us Uberwald."

Jake could not have said how, but he knew that the voice had disappeared. Turning he moved back towards the inn. Entering it he spotted their small group seated around a table. His gaze lingered on Alec for a long while, a long and penetrating look, but it gave away nothing of his feelings. Deciding however that to stay would mean his cold attitude towards the newcomers might become somewhat heated, he moved passed them all and moved to his room.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 23, 2007 03:17 PM :

((Welcome back Jake! ))

There was a silence among the group after Samson handed them the fire bombs. It was during this pause that Jake walked past the table, Jeannie watched him as he headed up to his room. A meaningful little cough made her head turn back to the group. Alec was watching her, looking bemused. She gave him an embarrassed smile and he leant over to her

"You should ask him if he'll help, I think he would be a usefull ally during all this"

Jeannie looked towards the stairs that led up to the parties rooms, she looked back at Alec and nodded

"I'll be back soon."

Excusing herself from the table Jeannie stood and walked towards the worn wooden staircase that led to the inn second floor. Once at the top she walked slowly towards Jakes door, knocked and spoke

"It's me. Can I come in?".......

.... At the table downstairs, Alec was looking thoughtfully at the fire bombs whilst waiting for the others to decided if they wanted to help with the attack against the ferals. He sat back in his seat

"Thankyou Samson, these may give us a good Plan B....."

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on December 23, 2007 07:00 PM :

Jake said nothing as Jeannie entered merely stared at her. Having his family around for so long had been a double edged sword, but that was not what was bothering him at the moment. At the moment their little group seemed to contain a werewolf/vampire, something Jake felt should have been tied up in a sack and smashed very thoroughly with a brick until her remains oozed out of the sack, and another werewolf that was one step away from being feral himself.

"We have to stop meeting like this" he commented with only a hint of humour "people will start to talk."

Moving over to the window he closed it before turning back to face her and folding his arms.

"Okay, I won't keep you in suspense, Alec is dangerous for all we know he could be working for the feral wolves and please don't even get me started on our werewolf with the large overbite."

His tone was so venomous it didn't seem like Jake in the slightest a deep miss-trust was clear on his face and his scent of disapproval was not one he was trying to disguise.

Vorick entered the inn and stopped momentarily as though mustering the courage to enter such an establishment. He moved towards the small group after ordering food and wine and spoke in his cold tones.

"The village appears to be being watched, it seems however to be safe for now."

He levelled his inscrutable gaze at Alec and for a long moment said nothing, finally though he spoke again and his tone was the same calm and indifferent one.

"It is a shame about your family, a small one but it could have been great. I do hope however that when it comes time to fight you do not have a change of heart."

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 24, 2007 02:52 AM :

Jeannie simply stood and listened to Jake, narrowing her eyes at the poisionous tone to his words. She stood defiant

"Well this is a new side to you. And for the record, I'm not happy about the hybrid either...but Alec is _not_ dangerous, he would never betray me and the idea that he would work with the ferals is laughable! They have killed his father, a man who was like an uncle to me! They have driven the rest of his family into hiding and his only brother betrayed his own blood and joined with the feral pack. Do you really think that after all that Alec would join with the very pack who has taken his life to pieces!?"

Realising she was yelling, Jeannie folded her arms and composed herself. She walked towards the door

"I came up here to ask you to help us. We are going to make a strike against the ferals...soon. If you want to help then I'll be downstairs. Come and find me and I'll explain the plan to you"

Opening Jakes door, Jeannie hesitated at the sound of a familiar voice downstairs. Again there was a moment where she had to swallow the loathing that Vorick always induced in her

She turned her head briefly towards Jake before leaving the room and shutting the door behind her "Sounds like you have a visitor"

Downstairs Alec met Voricks gaze, his vivid blue eyes completely seroious  
"Trust me Lord Vorick, what lays in my heart will never change. The ferals are as good as dead, and so is their leader"

Walking downstairs Jeannie watched them carefully, perhaps only she was aware of the brief moment of pain in Alecs face when he mentioned the leader. She sat down next to him, touching his shoulder in a brief gesture of comfort. He smiled gratefully at her

"So is your friend upstairs going to help?"

Jeannie simply shrugged and picked up her drink, she sat in silence waiting for the others to reach their decisions about the plan....

[ December 24, 2007, 02:59 AM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on December 24, 2007 08:20 AM :

((Good to have you back Jake!))

Patrick saw Mina trying to stay awake and decided to try to get her to sleep again. She had been through a lot these past few days and with all this talk of attacking werewolves and weapons lying around, he thought she'd be safer in her bed.

"Alright Mina, time for a nap. There's enough darkness to get through yet."

He needed to ask her about her dreams and wanted to take the box back from her for awhile. He didn't want her taking on all this responsibility just yet.

Patrick also intended to help Jeannie and the others with the attack on the ferals and wanted to know that the inn would be safe for anyone staying behind.

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on December 26, 2007 03:56 PM :

"m'not tired" said Mina, yawning, "I don't want a nap". Nevertheless, she followed the wizard without too much protest. She was, however, still determined to stay awake.

Mina was also a bit scared of all this talk of fighting: before joining this group, she had thought of fighting as being exciting, but now she had decided that too much fighting could be scary. "Are there going to be more monsters'n'fights?" she asked tiredly.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on December 26, 2007 11:17 PM :

Samson had finished getting his equipment ready when he heard the little girls questition. With out even looking at her Samson answered her.

"Ya, There'll be monsters. Monsters of unbelivible uglyness and strength. There's only one way to beat them. One you gotta be stronger then them and-" Here Samson looked at the little girl and gave her a wink and a big smile "- You have to be better looking then them, which you obviously have them beat."

Samson leaned back and felt as if hed done his duty trying to soothe the girl. What was even stranger was that she looked awfuly like aunt Jessica.

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on December 27, 2007 09:44 AM :

Patrick was a little worried about the word 'monsters' being used too freely lately; why couldn't it be waves of attacking flowers? Why did it always have to be monsters?

Looking at Mina he remembered, "Tell me about the dream you had. Who was in it?"

He also thought it would be a good idea to ask her about Mrs Jessel; Mina had contained the box using the idea of this Mrs jessel, so he'd have to know something about her if he was going to keep the spell going.

"I'll keep watch over the box for a while so that you can rest."

He could hear the others talking amongst themselves downstairs.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 28, 2007 12:29 PM :

Over the rim of her mug Jeannie looked around the group. She knew that the time of the strike wasn't very far away and that preparations were vital, staying focused was a must.

So the fact that her mind kept wandering to other personal issues was frustrating. She shook her head as though it would help clear her thoughts and took a sip of the, now cold, cocoa in the mug. Puling a face Jeannie set it back down on the table and pushed it away. Patrick had taken Mina back to her room, and Jeannie felt like he had the right idea. Exhaustion caused mistakes and she wanted this attack to go well. There were still a few hours until the dawn light would creep over the horizon, they should make the most of them.

"We shall talk over the fine details in the morning. We all need to sleep before we make a move. It's been a long day"

Stifling a yawn Jeannie rose and bid the others goodnight, purposefully not looking at Vorick Jeannie walked up the stairs and into her room. She washed quickly, her mind full of thoughts, and was about to climb into her bed when there was a knock at the door

"Who is it?"......

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on December 28, 2007 02:14 PM :

Jake stood silently watching the door once Jeannie had left. He found that sleep seemed unnecessary and his mind was too pre-occupied at the moment anyway so he, once again, uncluttered the window and looked out at the cold night. Unfastening the clasp of his cloak he allowed it to fall to the floor. The pale light of the half moon gave his skin a pale sheen as he stood by the window. Finally, with a deep sigh he leant forwards and fell from the window…The wolf looked up at the inn, sitting for a moment it scratched its ear before moving with a purposeful grace into the trees.

If Vorick had been convinced by Alec's small speech it did not show, he merely nodded in acknowledgement of the statement. When Jeannie announce she would retire he watched her leave and excused himself on similar grounds.

When Jeannie's room door opened the first thing that was evident was the smell of stale blood, rich earth, soil and the tang of sweat. Standing before Jeannie was a gaunt young man, wearing little more than rags to cover his modesty, his face was stubbly and he looked very nervous. When he realised that Jeannie had obviously seen he was a feral he jumped back like a cat and raised his hands in supplication.

"Wait!"

He said, the word being spoken in a guttural whine, as though the owner of the mouth were unused to speaking.

"Jeannie?"

He asking and pointed to her a quizzical look on his face.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 28, 2007 02:42 PM :

The scenbt caused her to recoil and the sight of the feral immediatly put Jeannie on the offensive. It dared to come here?! How had it got past the others? The urge to change to wolf form was incredibly strong and for once Jeannie didn't feel inclined to fight it...but the mention of her name cut through it all and got her attention.

With a dangerous look in her eyes Jeannie lowerd her arms back down to her sides and spoke slowly and deliberatly in canine.

_How do you know my name and why are you here?_

[ December 29, 2007, 10:17 AM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on December 29, 2007 01:57 AM :

Twilight could feel the tension in the room growing so, seemingly unoticed, she slipped out of the room and up the stairs. She chose a room at random and jumped out of the window, climbed up the drainpipe, and came to a halt on top of the inn's roof.

Looking over the land, she felt the slight breeze blow through her fur as she fell into deep thought. Her gaze shifted upwards towards the star filled sky, that twinkled in her feline eyes.

Twilight sighed inwardly, it had only been a few days, but it felt like weeks since she'd left Ankh-Morpork, and she was missing it more than she thought she would. She'd only come on this journey with them to make sure they got rid of this box properly, she didn't want what happened to her to happen to anyone else, especially the young girl

Lying down on the roof, Twilight began to let herself doze

Well, at least she could return to Ankh-Morpork once this whole journey was over..she hoped

[ December 29, 2007, 02:00 AM: Message edited by: Blazing Moon ]

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on December 29, 2007 01:36 PM :

OOC: I'm sorry if this is post is a bit confusing, I'm trying to dilute this characters sense of 'me' so his speech might seem a little confusing.

IC:

On closer inspection the rags of the young man standing in front of Jeannie appeared to be crudely fashioned from animal hide. They appeared to have been assembled by someone in a hurry and not entirely sure which hole to put where, there were two large holes at the bottom of what must have been the shirt, obviously for another set of legs.

As Jeannie spoke the intruder appeared to concentrate very hard and once she had finished speaking the young mans lips began to move as though he were translating what she had said very carefully. Finally he pointed at her again.

"One is Jeannie" he then pointed to himself "One, is…not Jeannie." He smiled wearily as though hoping that this would explain things. His expression grew grave and he began to explain his reasons for such a dangerous journey into the inn.

"We in danger, other We come to the lands and bring the long sleep to ones in our We. The other We smell of the one Jeanie. One was sent to ask the one Jeannie to stop bringing the long sleep"

He went silent, evidently replaying the conversation in his head. He spoke as one completely unused to using speech and his movements were quick and emphatic as though trying to emphasise the urgency of his words.

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on December 29, 2007 03:55 PM :

Mina looked adamant,  
'It was a bad bad bad dream.' she said definitely, 'There were lots and lots and lots of strange'n'ugly monsters and they wanted the box. They were outside. It was grey 'n I din't like them. They were scary 'n I said they couldn't have the box, but they wanted to use it to come in, 'n they came closer so I tried to magic them away, but they got bigger and stronger. They got big black bad big! It was scary.'  
She thought a bit,  
'They stopped when the box closed again after I woke.'

As an afterthought Mina added, 'I don't want a nap.'

[ December 29, 2007, 03:57 PM: Message edited by: Mina Harker ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 29, 2007 04:57 PM :

The feral was not the only one who mentally replayed the conversation afterwards. Jeannies brow was furrowed in concentration. Finally she looked back up at the ragged figure

"The other We...smell like me?" the figure infront of her nodded quickly, Jeannie folded her arms and continued "They are bringing the long sleep to your pack? They are killing your family?"

The nodding from the pitiful figure infront of her became frantic, Jeannie ran both hands through her hair and brushed it back off her face as she concentrated. She wasn't 100% sure but this primitive wild creature infront of her seemed to be a far cry from the organised vicious pack that they had encountered back at the Embassy, somthing wasn't right here.

"You want me to stop the long sleep?From the other We....that smells like me?....wait here!" Jeannie found herself mimicing the young mans use of excessive body language but it certainly seemed to help communications between them

She followed Patricks scent along the corridor and found him in Minas room. She smiled to herself, she wasn't surprised. He was doing an excellent job of protecting his young charge. She didn't go in however, the little girl needed her rest and besides it was Alec Jeannie was looking for. He had also retired to his room, when he answered her urgent knock he looked her up and down, grinned and winked at the sight of her wearing nothing but the large, long shirt she liked to sleep in

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure of this......"

Jeannie cut him off half way through "I have to go out again, I've had a visit from...someone. He wants my help" now the grin faded, and Alec looked deadly serious

"Who?"

Jeannie shook her head "I'm not sure who he is but he's risked his life to ask for my help. Now, it could all just be a trick...or it could not. Either way, I have to go out. Listen for me, if you hear my howl pay attention to what it says."

And leaving him completely confused Jeannie walked away from Alecs room and back into her own. The feral was still there loooking twitchy and with a sense of urgency. She opened her window allowing the soft night breeze to bring its smells into her room, turning to the young man Jeannie gestured to the window

"We go this way, I'll find the other We"

Once the young man had cautiously leapt into the street below Jeannie followed him, but not before chaning her shape to one more suited to the woodland where she was headed. Her paws padded on the street surface as she made her way beyond the village and into the dense forest that surrounded it

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on December 29, 2007 06:46 PM :

The young man seemed completely unperturbed by having a large wolf appear running next to him. Indeed, when they left the village he smiled and stripped in front of her and without looking for a place to change he shifted there and then. The wolf before her was not quite as large as her, slightly gaunt but it was clear it was VERY comfortable with this form, in fact it was evident that this form was its REAL form.

_The one Jeannie smells good_

With evident concentration he engaged his higher intelligence (well relatively higher) and spoke again.

_This way_

He dashed off, with every movement and every action it was clear that this 'young man' was in fact a young wolf. It was clear that as the ran there were Von Uberwalds or Von Adalwulfs following them, but the young wolf seemed completely calm. He dodged through streams, back tracked and laid false trails. Finally it was just Jeannie and the wolf.

Eventually their pace slowed and shadows began to move around them, still the young wolf led Jeannie deeper. Pausing for a moment the young wolf sniffed the air and when he was satisfied he climbed up a small incline and sat down. A few moments passed and a large grey wolf appeared, moving towards them at a leisurely lope. As the large wolf stopped the young wolf stood and bowed.

_This one is Jeannie_ He said to the large wolf, turning to Jeannie _This one Leads_

The large wolf examined Jeannie fro a few moments and with no pre-amble launched into a concise speech.

_The men that are wolves fight and when they fight Wes are caught into the long sleep. It is We that are being sent into the long sleep. This one remembers the men that are sometimes wolves and that the usually leave We in peace, but now they kill We._

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on December 30, 2007 11:46 AM :

When the young man had been human shaped Jeannie had almost pitied him, but now as a wolf he emanated a completely different aura. He obviously knew the forest inside out and Jeannie was quietly impressed at how easily he managed to lose the following werewolves. She had never before met a werewolf who was as wolflike as this one. It was also a stark reminder of the true nature of the beast within any werewolf....

When the impressively large grey wolf spoke Jeannie did her best to follow the peculiar type of speech.

_The men who are wolves...they are killing you?_

Jeannie simply stood infront of the large male, she listened and smelt. She could detect his other pack members not far away, but nothing else that helped her. She wondered again how they knew her name and why they thought she could help but there were more important questions to be asked just now

_You want me to stop it? Then I need to know more. Tell me what you can about the men that are wolves._

[ December 30, 2007, 11:56 AM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on December 30, 2007 02:36 PM :

Patrick listened to Mina describe her dream and wasn't too worried until she said something about the box closing again when she woke up.

He didn't doubt her, she wasn't the type to make things up and so far had dealt with the pressure very well. He was however, concerned that the box had opened on its own; it may show that it was not only aware, but could tell when it was being watched.

"Mina, tell me about Mrs Jessel. I'll be watching the box for a while and it'll help me to keep our spell together."

He'd listen to her story and then get her to sleep. She was probably afraid that the monsters would come back - if he was watching the box instead of her, she should be fine.

"I'll be here while you rest. I can keep the monsters away until the sun comes up. I may even remember a little story about a girl I once knew that fought off a very big monster indeed!"

Patrick pulled up a chair next to Mina's bed and took the box in his hands; in the dulll light of the fire it looked and felt just like any other knick knack box he had seen in his life.

When Jeannie briefly stopped at the door, he figured she may have been looking for someone and wondered how long before this trap would be set. He knew he would help as much as he could and something in him twinged at the thought. He hadn't used his magic in anger in quite some time; for defense yes, to distract or scare yes, but in a deliberate attack....not for a little while.

He looked at Mina sitting on her bed there in the fire light and remembered something that Death had said, that she would be a powerful witch someday - or even more.

_I can't imagine what she's capable of...I only hope we can put her on the right path._

Posted by **Max aka Helicopterpassoverhead** (Member # 3874) on December 31, 2007 09:57 AM :

It had been an extremely busy last few days and Snuffles was feeling...dozy. He looked longingly at the inviting space under one of the beds whilst falling asleep in a corner.

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on January 03, 2008 12:24 PM :

The large wolf shifted and watched her, evidently these creatures were not solely wolves, but the concepts that Jeannie was forcing them to consider with her questions was taking some concentration. He spoke again in the lupine language as though addressing a cub that was learning, but only slowly.

_The one that is Jeannie is upon the lands our lands. The one that is Jeannie is a man who is sometimes a wolf. There are others like the one that is Jeannie. Their we have entered our lands and attacked sending those of our We to the long sleep. One cannot allow the We to be harmed and the We's lands invaded. One will protect our lands, if this were to happen many would go into the long sleep. The one that is Jeannie could tell the others of her kind to leave and the long sleep will be avoided._

He watched her his golden eyes infinitely patient, it would appear that these creatures had left behind the more human concept of time as well.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 03, 2008 05:23 PM :

Jeannie sighed inwardly, she had hoped for a little more information. Looking at the alpha male infront of her she knew this wasn't the leader of the pack that had been assaulting them, there was no doubt about this. Jeannie had seen _that_ leaders face before...

This pack seemed to just want to get on with their reclusive existence here in the wilds of Uberwald, not to overthrow the nobility. So now the question was, which 'men who are wolves' were attacking this pack? Was it her family? The Von Uberwalds? A combination of the two? Or was it the feral pack that had attacked her in her own lands, the ones she had tracked to the caves? There were alot of questions but it was clear that she wasn't going to get all the answers here.

There was for a little while, a moment of conflict inside Jeannie. This creatures were feral, they were primitive. They meant nothing to her, why should she help them?

Another voice piped up inside her. These creatures were living on their instincts, they were brave enough to come to her for help and didn't deserve to be slaughtered...they had asked for her help.....

She stood up from her sitting position and calmly shook herself, she stepped forward a little and met the gaze of the large males golden eyes. Trying to keep her speech simple she addressed the powerful looking wolf

_I will try to help. I will speak to my kind_

She didn't wait for an answer, she knew she had said what they wanted to hear. So turning around she walked away from the strange wolves and proceeded deep into the forest

[ January 03, 2008, 05:25 PM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on January 04, 2008 03:32 PM :

Mina looked at the wizard and yawned.  
'All right' she said sleepily. 'Mrs Jessel is bad. I don't like her. She smells, mummy says she smells of jin, but I don't like it. Mummy leaves me with her sometimes when it's too wet'n'cold. She laughs at me and makes me drink a horrible drink. I think it might be the jin cos it smells as well. It makes me feel all funny and ill and I hate it, and then she laughs more. I was sick some times. And sometimes she's in a bad mood and chases me with a broom shouting. Once she was sick instead cause she drank too much of her drink. She doesn't have many teeth either.  
Mummy said that she was a baad old witch who might turn me into something if I'm bad.'

Mina looked a bit worried 'She can't magic me from here can she?'  
She added 'I don't want a story about monsters, I want a story about something nice.'

Mina settled down in bed, reassured, to listen to the wizard's story. Soon she was sleeping soundly and peacefully.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 05, 2008 10:50 AM :

The young wolf had led Jeannie deep into the forest, and although she was familiar with some of the area around the village she was now alone and deep in some of the darkest thickest forest she had ever seen. Small twigs and dead leaves cracked and crunched under her paws as she walked on, trying to get her bearings.

Being lost was not improving her mood. Jeannie was tired, her body was aching and the scar from the knife wound in her ribs would occasionaly remind her of it's presence with a sharp unpleasant twinge of pain. It did this now as she lept over a fallen tree. Jeannie stopped for a moment, crouching slightly until the pain subsided, then again began to walk. At least this was giving her time to think things over, the past few days had been relentless and now there was this appeal for help from a wild pack on top of everything else.

The question came to her again...which werewolves were killing the wild pack?And why did she even care? Why had she agreed to help them? She had plenty to take care of already without concerning herself with the affairs of an insignificant group of feral werewolves...

The sound and smell of water got her attention, she had been walking for a while and was thirsty. When she traced the source she was pleasantly surprised at what she found, there was a small stream trickling down some rocks, the water had formed a fairly large pool at the base of the rocks from which another small stream was fed aas it disapeared into the forest, the gurgling of the water still easily heard as it trickled away on it's winding path through the trees. The small wisps of steam that rose from the waters surface showed that this was a naturally warm spring

Jeannie stood for a moment and reasoned that seeing as it was techincally running water then it didn't count as a b-a-t-h. She looked around first, a pointless action considering she was in the middle of nowhere, and shifted to her human form. The warmth of the water felt wonderful on her tired muscles and she ducked under the water to clean her hair. Coming back to the surface she leant against the bank letting the warmth restore her aching limbs and began to think about what to do...but something else was nagging at her, Jeannie wasn't entirly sure she _was_ alone. The sudden loud snap of a twig could have just been a forest animal but Jeannies instincts told her otherwise. She stayed where she was, her eyes fixed on the direction of the sound....

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 05, 2008 01:15 PM :

Patrick had listened to little Mina tell her story, drawing a perfect picture of Mrs Jessel in his head.

_I know people like you Jessel. I know what you did with your life and I know the hate you have for everyone else. I know your thoughts and I can smell you, just like Mina says. You will never get out of this box, ever._

With that simple thought, Patrick had taken the box from Mina and she would be able to sleep a restful, peaceful sleep that all children should know.

He had started telling her about the purple flowers that grow in Ecalpon; the colors that catch the eye, the scent that wafts over the fields where they grow. He was told that they were magical and as a child he sat there, in the field for hours waiting for something magical to happen.

He had watched the birds fly overhead, the bees flit from flower to flower, the rabbits run and play along the trails they had blazed. He waited for the magic. As other kids had been working in the forest felling trees, cutting logs and hauling lumber to worksites, he had sat in the fields of purple flowers waiting for something to happen

It wasn't until a few years later as a young man being sent off to his first apprenticeship, that it hit him....that _had_ been the magic. The quiet, the animals, the sun, the wind....

Mina had almost been alseep for a full ten minutes, but he had sat there still telling her the story, hoping that she would dream of purple fields and not about monsters or Jessel.

Standing up and quietly moving to the door, he slipped out of her room, leaving the window cracked open just enough to let Twilight back in if she chose. He had stoked the fire up just abit, so the room would be warm enough.

Outside in the hall, he tucked the troublesome box into his robes and wondered how it was that he never seemed to run out of pockets......

There was a change in the air as he remembered the upcoming trap to be set and sprung against the ferals. Deciding to sit quietly by himself for a while, Patrick returned to his room.

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on January 05, 2008 02:00 PM :

Twilight woke up and sat bolt upright. This is usually the result when someone is woken up by a sound, but the only thing that could be heard at this time was the crickets chirping and the gentle whistle of th wind as it drifted through the trees. Twilight had just woken up to a feeling that something was out there.

She adjusted her nightvision and scanned the edge of the woods. Not a single tree leaf was crackling on the ground, and not a single bush was rustling, but nevertheless _something_ made its way past the trees and out into the open in front of the inn. She watched as the shapeless silohette got closer to the building.

Not missing a beat, Twilight without a sound ran swiftly down the drainpipe and silently ran across the grass until she had the creature pinned down in the dirt.

She bared her fangs and hissed until she realised that the sound emmiting from the thing's throat was..a laugh.

_Oh, Twilight,_ it said, _You always were the stealthy one_ Realization dawned on the cat and Twilight slowly got off of the creature. Speechlessly, she sat down in the grass as the thing rolled over and got upright, laughing.

He turned to her, and two eyes twinkled back in the moonlight. The left one was a deeper sapphire than any jewel could caompare to, and the other was a bright sterling silver. Twilight found her voice.

_Nova?_ she croaked. You'd never guess that the cat in front of her was of calico blood, because all of his fur was a scruffy tanish orange, except for the white patches on his mouth and paws. He bared his teeth in a grin, revealing his chipped fangs.

_Surprised?_ he said. Twilight got closer.

_What are you doing here?_ she inquired. When he spoke next, there was nothing but pure kindness in his voice.

_We missed you,_ he said, _Word got around to the other alleycats that you ran off with a bunch of werewolves, and we wanted to make sure you were okay_

_So, why did_ you _come?_ Nova lifted Twilight's head with his paw to bring them to eye level.

_Because_ I _missed you the most_ he said. Twilight smiled.

_That was really sweet of you._ she said.

Nova yawned and stretched out. Twilight could tell that he must have been walking for days to catch up with them. She felt guilty for not at least telling _him_ where she was going.

_So, why did you run off with a bunch of humans, anyway?_ he asked, interrupting her thoughts.

_Oh,_ said Twilight as the question sank in. She turned back to the building where the dim firelight still shone in Mina's room. _I came to protect a little girl, she seems to be like us_

_She can turn into a cat?_ Twilight paused.

_Okay,_ she said, _When I said 'us' I really meant more like you_

_Ah,_ said Nova, _That reminds me, I got you something_ Before Twilight could answer, he had put his paw to the ground after clearing away some twigs and leaves. There was a brief flash of octarine light and a patch of lillies began to sprout and bloom from the gorund.

Twilight watched him speechlessly, before running up to him and hugging him by wrapping her tail around him. He did the same. And in the night, the only thing that could be heard aside from the circkets was the soft purring of the two calicos reunited

[ January 05, 2008, 02:06 PM: Message edited by: Blazing Moon ]

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on January 05, 2008 05:25 PM :

Samson had fallen asleep with his hat over his eyes. What was funny was that when people saw this they also thought that he couldnt hear. His eyes snapped open when he heard him.

"If we lose these people and that box, we're crap outta luck...we gotta get that box."

Samson knew that voice. Samson raised his hat and glaered at The man.

"The box is mine Venture"

Venture slowly turned away from his partner, Trey, and looked at Samson.

"ahh, Samson, what makes you say that. Our... "Client" wants that box, and you know who our "Client" is. And what he does when you fail"

Samson winced, The "Client" knew some very painful tourture techniques. but that wasnt Samsons problem.

"Sorry Venture but your not touching that box."

Venture just stared at Samson for a long while, then with a twitch of his hand He had Trey launch himself at Samson. while Samson wrestled with Trey, knocking over tables and letting out yells, Venture Pounded up the stairs in search of the box...

[ January 05, 2008, 05:28 PM: Message edited by: SGT. Knocker ]

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on January 07, 2008 08:01 PM :

Nova was the first one to break the hug. He stood back and smiled.

_So,_ he said, _Who is this girl?_

Twilight turned to look up to the open window to Mina's room, and turned back to Nova.

_Come with me, _she said.

She silently led the cat up the drain pipe and to the window, she gestured for him to go first, but he simply rolled his eyes and pushed her in. She landed awkwardly onto the floor and gave him a look. He smiled and followed in after her. In the dim firelight the two cats could just make out the shape of Mina, fast asleep in bed

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 08, 2008 12:30 PM :

The noise came through the trees again. louder this time. It was barely perceptible but there was no mistaking it was the sound of felt her muscles tense and she made ready to leave the water when the source of the noise came into view...

The young gaunt werewolf, who had so bravely sought her out at the inn, approached the pool. Jeannie realised he must have tracked her the entire way, she hadn't detected being followed at all.

_The One that is Jeannie has lost her way_

It was more of a statement than a question. Still in the water Jeannie folded her arms across her chest, partly due to modesty and partly to add to her indignation

"I am _not_ lost! I may have lost my bearings a bit...ok, quite a bit....alright, _a lot_...but I am not lost"

The look on the werewolfs face as he tried to follow her rapid erratic speech was nothing short of pure puzzlement. He shook himself and came closer

_The One that is Jeannie needs help to find her way_

Jeannie glared

"I do not need......" and hesitated, pride was one thing but she had to admit to herself she could use some help to navigate these strange deep forests. She sighed

"Ok, yes...a bit of help...just to point me in the right direction..." Another puzzled look met her answer. Jeannie remembered who she was speaking to and asked again in simple language

"Will you please show me the way?"

The young wolf agreed and Jeannie went to climb out of the water...she hesitated for a moment due to having no convienient clothing but told herself she was being silly. The young man probably had completely different ideas of modesty, he hadn't cared about changing infront of her had he?

Even so, she shifted to wolf shape as soon as she was out of the pool and shook herself dry. She looked across at the young male, trying to ignore the look on his face that would probably have been a smile in human shape

_I'm ready. Show me the way to the other We _

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on January 08, 2008 07:31 PM :

Orcakeline almost made out half of the others understanding quite a lot of what they were supposed to do she waited for Mina to fall she heard Patrick go to his room,returning from Minas room the dwarf went back to her room.

Unfortunately she couldn't fall she stood awake and watched out into the forest,trying to make up were she actually ended up.

_It's the middle o' the night....and I'm someplace in....in my ol' land...in Uberwald...and I can't sleep,even though I'm exhausted.I wonder...what will happen next?_ thought Orcakeline.

And afterwards she put herself into bed and closed her eyes.

Something wasn't a fly,neither a plane or a bag,but of course,it wasn't Superman either,it might have been a it was had got some sort of wings and it moved too fast.

Something cracked and a bee came flew until it touched the it took a leaf and took it back to the "cloud".Then there was a hitting-noise and the cloud flew very circled the wait a sky isn't boarded by it explained one cloud was in a big bowl.

Orcakeline ,in her dream of course,tried to knock in the she touched it,she got a sort of itchy feeling in her was as if there existed a magnetic field that circled the bowl.

After the itching stopped,Orcakeline woke up.  
She didn't understand anything about the did it have to do with reality?

_I'll tell the other about the dream tomorrow mornin'.I guess some real sleep will help._ *yawn*

[ January 30, 2008, 09:22 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 09, 2008 02:02 PM :

Patrick heard the commotion down below and moved to his door to see what was going on. He saw a man running up to the top of the stairs and not recognizing him right away, knew that something was not right.

Not knowing exactly what he was doing, Patrick stepped back from the door, letting it swing open. As the light from the fireplace spilled out into the hall, he pulled his hands inside his robes clasping them together.

Walking backwards to the fireplace in order to watch the doorway and the hall outside, Patrick stopped just short of the hearth.

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on January 10, 2008 12:10 PM :

Some might have thought it a remarkable co-incidence that Jake had come across Jeannie and….some raggedy looking…person? But Jake hadn't really thought about it. He had wandered into the forest, just allowing the wolf in him to stretch it's legs and allowing the human side of him to take a back seat and mull events over in his mind.

_Wait_ the young wolf said to Jeannie, stepping in front of her protectively and looked into the under growth.

Jake stood still, the wolf was so shocked that the human mind came to the fore. He had not moved, the wind was blowing in the wrong direction and he had made no sound. How in the Gods names had this wolf managed to locate him and then stare directly at him. Jake had always thought of himself as a very stealthy werewolf but his efforts had just been tattered by this wolf.

_There is a man who is sometimes a wolf watching the one that is Jeannie and one_

Jake crouched and he heard a growl begin in the other wolf's throat, his hackles stood up, the audacity of this flee ridden thing. Jake emerged from the bushes adopting a calm and aloof air, turning to Jeannie he spoke.

_Who is this, he's not one of the feral wolves is he?_

The young wolf turned back to Jeannie

_One of Jeannie's kind, he is upon our lands and he was not invited. The men that are sometimes wolves all do this._

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 10, 2008 05:41 PM :

Jeannie had been about to proceed towards the bushes when her guide stepped infront of her, she couldn't hide her surprise. Never in her entire life had anyone protected her, yet this young gaunt werewolf had done just that. She was also surprised that she hadn't detected the source of his concern. He was really putting her own skills to shame

Jeannie took up a defensive stance until she saw it was Jake who approached them now. She relaxed a little and walked forward

_You know, we really should stop meeting like this. People will start to get ideas_ she teased playfully, partly because he had said practically the same thing to her last time they spoke, before she answered his question about the scruffy young werewolf

_He has no name, he's a feral....but not from the pack we are after. He came to me asking for assistance. I've agreed to help...if I can_

She still wasn't convinced that she actually wanted to help them and whether she would be able to actually do anything about the situation anyway but hoping she had concealed the doubt in her voice about her task Jeannie turned now to the young feral

_This one is my friend._

This was said with a warning in her voice. If the feral or his pack turned on her friends or family she would have to break her promise of help

Having made the reluctant introductions, she turned back to the scruffy wolf who still seemed to be trying to keep infront of her. Feeling slightly annoyed at this small gaunt male trying to protect a large powerful female werewolf she nudged him gently yet firmly aside and stepped forward. She was wondering now, was this a simple matter of territory? had the ferals attacked the strange werewolves first in defence of their lands? Which side was provoking which? Or was there another side to this story...

Either way, not much progress could be made here and she was eager to move on. If this young wolf could track her so well without her knowing, and could detect a werewolf as skillfull as Jake then there was always the uncomfortable idea that the whole pack could be following, or even watching them from the dark depths of the trees right now. Jeannie would feel a whole lot safer when they were well away from here

Posted by **Sgt Delphine** (Member # 5393) on January 10, 2008 11:20 PM :

Delphine started looking for someone to talk to about the 'trap' they wanted to set for the ferals.  
She found Patrick.  
*Okay mister voice in my head, here goes - I'm going to tell someone*  
"Patrick... You want to set a trap for the ferals. I know what you can use for bait. Me.  
My mother...is the leader of the ferals. She doesn't like me but she's willing to talk to me. If all of you disguise your scents then there's a chance you can catch her unawares. A slim chance, but a chance none the less."  
And with that Delphine waited to see how Patrick would react.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 11, 2008 12:43 PM :

The forest was dark, and full of the sounds of unseen creatures as they went about the daily business that all small unseen creatures did.

Jeannie had impatiently urged her guide to carry on showing her the way back to familiar grounds. She was fed up of wasting time and wanted to get the trap set and sprung before she could continue with the inevitable mission of The Box.

She walked someway behind him, trotting along next to Jake. Deep in thought for a while Jeannie eventually spoke to the large dark wolf next to her

_OK, I'm going to tell you as much as I can about what's happening. The ferals that attacked us, they began their assaults a few weeks back yes? Well, their first target was Alecs home. They killed his father, the rest of his family escaped and as far as we know they are either in hiding or dead already...except for his brother. He actually joined the feral pack. We think he was allied with them before the attack even took place...as it stands now he is one of the alpha ferals. Perhaps the leader, perhaps the voice who is whispering the poison into the leaders ear, who knows._

If Jeannie could have shrugged in wolf shape she wold have done, it would have been the appropriate gesture to accompany her words

_Alec is a very good friend. I can't leave without helping him avenge his families fate, and of course it benefits our families if we can strike at the heart of the ferals right here, right now. This has gone far enough!_

She stopped long enough to lap at a small softly flowing stream before resuming the pace

_There is going to be a trap...._

Jeannie told Jake of the plan, it had been made in haste but she hoped it would succeed.

_I'll be one of the werewolves who infiltrates the den. If the worst happens and we fall, there are firebombs and a wizard...if he will help...we'll toast them alive inside their hole_

She walked now in silence, there were other things she wanted to say but for now kept them to herself and just listened to the footfalls of the threee of them as they went through the trees, the forest was becoming lighter. Jeannie was starting to recognise landmarks and scents. She was back in familiar territory

[ January 11, 2008, 12:44 PM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on January 11, 2008 12:58 PM :

Samson wrestled with Trey. Samson was grabbing for something on his leg, he let out a triumphant shout when he found it. in a flash Samsons arm moved and Trey stiffened then let out a groan. Samson shoved Trey off and pulled out the knife. Scrammbiling up and grabing his crossbow, Samson pounded up the stairs.

Venture had stepped into the doorway and aimed his crossbow. Before he could do anything else Samson shouted

"VENTURE!!!!"

Venture swung his crossbow and fired.  
Like his training taught him Samson took the Bolt in the thigh without even flinching. Venture stared. Samson smiled.

"Asta la vista" and fired.

Venture dropped dead.

Then Samson noticed that he was bleeding profusly.

"awww you gotta be kidding me" and passed out.

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 12, 2008 12:58 PM :

Patrick hadn't been expecting Delphine to step through the door and was only able to listen to about half of what she said before Venture had walked in behind her.

Patrick hadn't had the sense of mind to yell a warning to her, but luckily he didn't have to; another shout from out in the hall caused Venture to turn - a second later he was dead.

Finally snapping out out of his disbelief, Patrick grabbed Delphine and together they moved toward Samson.

A quick look told Patrick that Samson had passed out, the wound hadn't been life-threatening in itself.

"Grab his feet."

Together they moved him onto Patricks bed.

"Delphine listen, I don't want any of us putting ourselves in harms way unless there is no other choice. Let's not make any decisions without the rest of the group okay?"

As he tore at the pant leg to expose the wound to what little light there was, he added, 'That was a brave and excellent plan by the way. I don't know if I'd have the courage to offer myself up like that; but still, let's wait."

Seeing that the shaft of the bolt had gone deep into the leg, Patrick knew that it would be wonderful if a surgeon just happened to be passing by. He also knew that wasn't about to happen.

"Delphine, I need your help. Tell the innkeeper I need his strongest spirits and a very sharp knife. I'm sure he's not too happy with us right now, but this wound is going to turn nasty if we don't help Samson out now."

As she turned to leave, Patrick took a look at his would be assassin. His body lay on the floor just outside the door and a small pool of blood was forming on the floorboards.

Grabbing the body by the shoulders, he dragged it into his room and covered it with a blanket. A cursory search turned up empty pockets; no money and nothing to identify the man. Patrick took the weapon from where it had fallen and put it under his bed.

Turning to the sleeping form of Samson on the bed, the wizard said a quiet 'thank you' and began telling the story of the field of purple flowers.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 12, 2008 03:20 PM :

As the lands became more familiar Jeannies pace quickened. She knew exactly where she was now, she called to the feral guide who stopped in his tracks, turned and trotted back towards her

_I know my way from here. I will do what I can for you when I reach my kind_

He seemed to understand, he gave her a brief bark of aknowledgement and was soon gone amongst the trees and undergrowth. Jeannie looked at Jake

_And I thought_ I _was good at stealth..._

Well, there was no further time for small talk, it was time to set things moving. With many things weighing heavy in her heart Jeannie set off on a direct course that would take her straight to the village and the others.

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on January 12, 2008 07:09 PM :

Annie had been sitting quietly for quite a while, wondering what to do. She heard things and had a feeling that something interesting was going on, but she wasn't sure whether to leave her room or not. Deciding that Patrick seemed like the person in the group least likely to tell her to go away, she walked to his room. "Sorry for disturbing you," she said quietly, and seeing someone lying on the bed she said the words that had been in her head for ages- "What's going on?"

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on January 12, 2008 07:12 PM :

"I can't!I can't!It's useless!I'll never manage to fall asleep!!!!!!!!!Aaaaaaaaaaargh!"

Orcakeline couldn't fall the night past by she got bored of staying in bed and looking into the depths of the forest.  
She got dressed and went towards the place she could here voices coming recognized Patrick's voice.

"Hello?Anybody there?Patrick?"

She backed a few feet and searched the dwarf found Patrick standing up and said:

"Patrick,I don't want to disturb or to be,er...rood,but I wish to describe you a dream I just had an hour ago.  
It went like this:  
There was a cloud,or at least something that looked like a cloud,and it circled the of the cloud came a bee that touched the ground,took a leaf and returned back to the disappeared into the cloud and afterwards the cloud started moving veeeeeeeery ,er, I noticed that the cloud was in a bowl.I tried to touch the bowl but I got this itchy feeling in the tip of my felt as if I touched a magnetic field.  
Do you think this dream makes any sense?I thought I should tell someone about the dream and you were the only person I know better around here so I told you...Hope it would help.."

[ January 30, 2008, 09:29 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on January 12, 2008 09:42 PM :

Twilight heard the commotion outside Mina's room, after some silence, she could hear the the voice of Samson, but it had been cut off by the sound of something hitting the ground, then after some silence, the voices of Patrick, Delphine, and Orcakeline were coming from the next room. She exchanged glances with Nova.

_Stay with Mina,_ she said. He nodded as she headed out. When she was out the door, he turned back to the small girl. After some thought, he hopped up onto the bed, and looked into her sleeping face, passively

_Just like me, huh?_

Out in the hall Twilight discovered the source of the sound was Patrick's room, she walked in and observed the scene, silently. She saw Broc's son on the bed, bleeding.

_So, how's the party?_

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on January 13, 2008 06:05 AM :

"Oh"said Orcakeline"Is that a _human_ body?Well,hope the person is O.K....In the past three days I've seen so many dead bodies:birds' bodies,ladybugs' bodies,a cockroach's body and many other,but this is the first time I see a human body...What happened?"closed Orcakeline her babbling with a normal question.  
After shutting up,Orcakeline just stood there,like everyone else,staring at Patrick.

[ January 30, 2008, 09:30 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 14, 2008 04:28 AM :

Patrick was suddenly feeling a little overwhelmed by everyone showing up in his room, not to mention that he had a dead body in the corner and an injured one lying on his bed.

"Um..."

_As as Delphine gets back with the supplies I have to work on this wound. She'll....wait a sec....did she say her mother was the leader of the ferals? Did I miss something there? Probably why I am not on the Watch._

He stood there for a second looking at Annie, Orcakeline and Twilight as they looked back at him apparently wanting answers.

"Well, yes that is a human body, both are actually, but Samson on the bed here is simply wounded and is in need of medical attention. The other is I'm afraid, beyond help."

Trying to think of something to do in order to help the situation, Patrick lit a couple more lanterns and set them up around the bed to give more light. If he was going to remove the arrow from the leg, he'd need to be able to see everything.

"Samson was attacked. A stranger was coming up the stairs towards me and had a weapon. Samson got to him before he could harm us, but ended up being hurt in the process."

He could hear Delphine running back up the stairs, hopefully with all he needed.

"Orcakeline, I'm not very good at figuring out dreams, but it sounds like you were dreaming about our current situation here. I think you were seeing and feeling events as they will or might happen in the future. I can't be sure."

As Delphine came back into the room, Patrick took what she brought and looked back at Samson sleeping on the bed.

"Ladies, I will need someone to stay here and help me. I would ask that the rest of you please make sure that we are secure here. We don't need anyone else showing up unannounced."

Settling down to the job before him, Patrick took a deep breath and began cleaning the wound with the alcohol.

Posted by **Max aka Helicopterpassoverhead** (Member # 3874) on January 14, 2008 01:14 PM :

Snuffles woke up, noticing, amazed, that the fact that his erratic behaviour and short, irregullar half-naps had caused him to lose track of time. No, he corrected himself, he was amazed at the fact that this was _bothering_ him.  
He stood up, yawned, and walked over to the cowering Patrick. Nudging him, he inquired:  
'What's happening? / Meeeow?'  
The look the wizard gave him, a kind of mix between exasperation, frustration and anger, was enough to have Snuffles make a few hurried steps backwards.  
After he fumbled a bit with his new pair of teeth, he idly pulled Twilight by the tail, just because there wasn't any better entertainment.

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on January 14, 2008 01:59 PM :

Oracakeline was sure that Patrick would be kind of nervous being asked so many questions,plus he had to save a person and that's why Orcakeline took her axe out and said:

"I'm am going to assure that there's no one coming.I'll be standing at the entrance into the inn...If there's anything else,tell and my axe are prepared for anything axe too"to leave,because,we still name it...just don't tell us "showing haven't got a place to go.  
I'll guard the ,sir...Anyone else?"said the dwarf with a little bit of a 'I wish you would..' expression on her face.

And at last,the little dwarf gave a last look,seeing that everybody was occupied she started for the entrance.

[ January 30, 2008, 09:31 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 14, 2008 03:13 PM :

Patrick watched as Orcakeline walked out of the room to go guard the entrance of the inn.

_Definitely determined to do a good job. I wish I had that kind of confidence._

Snuffles had begun torturing poor Twilight and Patrick took that as meaning things were returning to normal.

Taking the knife in his hand he began a small incision in Samson's leg.

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on January 14, 2008 03:58 PM :

Annie stood, still unsure of what to do. She wasn't bothered by injuries or dead bodies but she had very little knowledge of how to help injured people. She walked out after Orcakeline. Despite her family's opinion of her as defenceless, she could guard things pretty well. She put her hand into the bag that she was still carrying and made sure she still had the dagger with her.

[ January 14, 2008, 04:00 PM: Message edited by: AniloracTeatime ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 14, 2008 06:11 PM :

Deep in the shadows, Jeannie sat in complete silence. She panted quietly after the effort of the final sprint back to the village. Now she was watching the inn, she could see two figures by the door. The scents told her who it was, but she didn't know these two well enough to just go strolling up in wolf form and expect them to understand that the large golden wolf was, in fact, Jeannie.

So she chose the method of stealth. It was no effort at all to slip past the two of them and slink into the small alley that ran past the inn, she changed into human form and made the jump up to her window.

Once inside Jeannie gave a longing look to the small lumpy looking bed, right now she could have slept on a bed of rocks. But time was pressing , she pulled on her clothes and opened the door...to be greeted by the intense inviting smell of blood

The blood lust was matched by the sudden rise of panic and concern for the others. Just about managing to keep a hold on the wolf Jeannie followed the scent to Patricks room.

She didn't dare venture any closer, it was taking every ounce of self restraint to be this close . Leaning against the doorframe Jeannie managed to speak in what she hoped were normal tones

"So, what did I miss?"

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on January 14, 2008 07:39 PM :

Samson slept and for some reason dremnt of purple flowers. Then he felt the cut of a knife. Samson woke up screaming.

"AHHHHH!!!!!!"

Samson jerked and Patricks knife popped out the arrow.

"OWWWWWW!!!!"

Samson took a deep breath and controlled his pain. then, in a slightly strained voice, Samson asked for a long piece of cloth.

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on January 15, 2008 01:51 PM :

When Jeannie was at a safe distance ,Orcakeline saw a small something in the made no just stood and so sleepy,she didn't manage to see where the creature went.

"Missus,I saw something far away.I wish to go tell the others about be so kind as to take things in hand as I will be away."said Orcakeline facing Annie but as usual ,she made a small smile appear on her face.

She went towards Patrick room,but when she entered she saw Jeannie.

"Oh,hi!I don't want to disturb around here,but I saw something in the woods.I couldn't make out what it was,because I'm tired,plus I can't fall asleep when I you have the faintest idea of what I saw?"  
Orcakeline saw Samson too. _Ow,that must have hurt!_ thought the dwarf seeing the arrow near the bed.

[ January 30, 2008, 09:33 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 15, 2008 02:14 PM :

Patrick just about jumped out of his robes when Samson woke up screaming. Luckily the knife had caught the bolt shaft when he jerked and the arrow slid somewhat effortlessly from the wound.

"Oh for crying out loud, don't do that!"

Patrick saw the blood welling up in the wound and was glad it was not spurting across the walls; the arrow hadn't nicked or severed a blood vessel.

"Hold on Samson, before you go tying that off we need to clean it up."

Aware of Jeannie standing in the doorway, Patrick tried to cath her up on the big events.

"Well, it would seem we were attacked here by a couple of fellows intent on mischief. I was about to become the late Mr Wizard, when my friend here killed the bastard. Unfortunately, he took a bolt to the leg in the process."

He continued to tell her that the innkeeper had supplied the bandages, Delphine had been a great help and Orcakeline and Annie had pulled security for a bit while Jeannie had been out.

"I feel quite grateful to have such a competent group here. I don't know what would have happened otherwise."

Standing up from the bedside, he made his way to the doorway to speak with Jeannie in lower tones.

"I have the body of the would be killer hidden in here for now. I checked his clothes and such, but didn't find any identification. I think Samson may know who he is. Also, Delphine came to me with a plan she thought of for our trap; she told me that her mother is the leader of the ferals.....and said we could use her as bait to get her mother to come to our little party."

Patrick knew Jeannie had already worked out the details, but figured this new information might be useful as well.

"We have one injured in our group now, but I think we need to move quickly on this. Since we left the city we've been running into so many people who know our business, it might just be a matter of time before we get into something too big for us. Whatever you want me to do...just say it."

Not forgetting the report from Orcakeline, Patrick asked Jeannie if that was her that she had seen or if there was any possibility that she had been followed back to the inn.....

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 15, 2008 03:19 PM :

Jeannie kept her arms folded tightly around her, she quite literally keeping a hold on herself. The smell of the hidden corpse was strong but a stronger, much more enticing scent was the fresh blood.

When Patrick told her of Delphines information Jeannie didn't even try to hide the surprise on her face then nodded slowly. The idea of using a were-wolf/vampire hybrid who had not so long ago tried to kill her as bait oin the trap was much more attractive than using Alec

Jeannie then told Patrick about Alecs brother

"I think he's behind the sudden attacks, maybe he's influencing the leader...maybe he has usurped the leadership....we can't know for certain"

Jeannie agreed with Patrick

"You're right, we need to get this thing moving. If you are willing to help then I thank you Patrick. I would like you to provide a bit of magical back up. First of all keep an eye on the trap, then come to the feral lair. We may need to torch the den...Fire will kill a werewolf"

When asked if she may have been followed Jeannie looked at the floor and sighed. Looking back up at the wizard she told him about her strange visitor and the plea for help

"...So you see, they could have followed me back here and I probably wouldn't have a clue. He even took Jake by surprise. As for anything else, I probably would have picked up some sort of clue usually, but I was hurrying to return here and not really using my senses to the full"

She shrugged

"Sorry, not much use really but the short answer is possibly yes. I may have been followed"

As if on cue, they were interrupted by a sudden noise in the street outside the inn.......

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on January 15, 2008 06:14 PM :

Orcakeline stepped forward,peeking throw the couldn't see anything more than a mere shadow of a creature,or,who knows,maybe a person.

"Who's there?"whispered Orcakeline taking her axe from her belt,and holding it behind her back.

[ January 30, 2008, 09:34 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 16, 2008 02:52 PM :

Patrick didn't know what to expect now, but the fact was Jeannie may have been followed and this could mean trouble.

Orcakeline had already taken up a spot by the door with her weapon held behind her back; she had no fear - at not that she showed.

He would have liked to have had more help on this but with Samson injured and Mina alseep in her room, someone would have to stay and guard the hall.

"Again, ladies, I need to ask one of you to stay here and keep an eye on our friends while Jeannie and I go take a look at whatever or whoever has come to visit."

He didn't like ordering people around and he hoped the others realized he wasn't trying to be controlling, but things had to be done.

Looking to Jeannie for a cue, he wondered if he was ready for more excitement.

"I'm really getting too old for this."

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on January 17, 2008 02:35 PM :

"The soul and the heart never get old!They remain young!But wheres the body...well that's another story...But you are still capable of doing this!"and a huge smile appeared on Orcakelines' face.

[ January 30, 2008, 09:35 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 18, 2008 03:05 PM :

Her confidence was astounding. Patrick figured Orcakeline would be the one singing merrily to herself after a cave-in or earthquake, while the rest of the group would be running for cover.

"Okay. Maybe I've got it in me for one good fight."

Stopping and turning toward the grinning face he added, "But when this is all over I'm buying a farm somewhere. With...with goats! Maybe a dog too!"

Mumbling to himself as walked away, Patrick quietly said, "But no horses. Too darn tricky!"

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on January 18, 2008 03:18 PM :

Samson tied some cloth over the wound and tested the leg to see if it could take the wieght. it could. Samson gathered up his gear and began to slot bolts into his pistol bows and his crossbow. as he sloted he looked down and spoke low enough for nobody but Jeannie to hear him.

"I know what you are Jeannie, you, Jake and even Delphine. and let me tell you i cant stand your kind. your kind have ruled Uberwald for so long and killed so many people that it makes me want to puke. Just want to let you know that you or your........friends make one wrong move and youll recive a bolt to the chest."

He turned one of the bolts over and it glinted silver.

Samson looked up into Jeannies face and a slow smile spread across his face.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 18, 2008 03:48 PM :

Before she could follow Patrick Jeannie was stopped by Samsons quiet threat. The proximity of the silver made her skin crawl and the scar on her chest seemed to itch. Jeannie knew from experience that wounds caused by silver took a long time to fade completely, nevertheless she walked closer to the bleeding man, the blood lust keeping the wolfs full attention. She smiled in a cold melevolant way

"You know Samson, I wasn't always a watch sergeant. Years ago I was exactly what you think I am now. I have killed, I know the taste of blood. I can almost taste the scent of your blood right now as it seeps so invitingly out of your wounded leg." Jeannie lent down so her face was level with Samsons " You think I will quake at the sight of your silver weapon? Well, I'll tell you this, and it is a promise. You hurt any of my friends and I _will_ taste your blood."

Jeannie fought the urge inside her to let the wolf claim the blood it craved, the shape of her face changed subtly and she suddenly looked extremely dangerous and completely capable of carrying out her threat to kill Samson if he decided to use his silver bolts

Satisfied that she had made her point she turned and walked out of the small room, as she walked across the room Jeannie spoke without looking back

"You shouldn;t have threatened me Samson.I am not a good enemy to have."

and with that last sentance hanging in the air Jeannie walked to the outside of the inn to discover the source of the mysterious noise...

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 21, 2008 04:45 PM :

Patrick followed Jeannie outside which surprised him as he wasn't exactly a brave man or a fighter; if someone out here was intent on harm he may be more of a liability than an asset.

He tried to be quiet as he walked so as not to disturb Jeannie; he figured she would be using her hightened senses to locate anything out here.

As far as he could tell it was quiet as the horses weren't raising a ruckus and no dogs were barking. Not being a tracker of any skill he couldn't see any footprints in the dirt......

Unless whatever it was could fly.

Lowering his voice, Patrick tried to whisper, "There are vampires in Uberwald aren't there?" He hoped he was wrong; his knowledge of most areas outside of Ecalpon was sketchy at best.

_I'm sure there are. Probably are. Great big flying mouths of pointy teeth. Might as well be at any rate - we've been tracked by everyone else, why not a vampire?_

"No trolls though,right?"

_Stop it!_

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on January 21, 2008 05:55 PM :

After Orcakeline went inside Annie stayed where she was, watching everything. She heard the sound of people talking but didn't know what they were saying. She couldn't hear the loud noises of a fight though, which was a relief. Then a couple of them came outside. Patrick looked worried. He said something about vampires. It was still very dark, and in the circumstances it looked quite scary. This night seemed to be dragging on forever. Annie hoped it would be morning soon.

Posted by **Sgt Delphine** (Member # 5393) on January 22, 2008 12:56 AM :

Delphine had told Patrick about her mother and then gone blank. She'd done what she was told with out paying attention or thinking. She'd gone back to normal - or rather, back to what passed for normal in their little group - in time to hear Patrick telling Jeanie about her.

When she heard what Samson said she froze. Then she unfroze in a red hot rage .  
"Ruled?? RULED??" She screamed. "I'm a hybrid you idiot! I don't *rule* anything!! I consider myself lucky not to have people trying to kill me every five minutes!!!"

"And we're bringing killing into it now are we???" She continued almost incoherent with anger "Of course course weres and vamps have killed people, but you're implying that humans are wonderful, nice creatures, who've never hurt anything!" She was spitting by now and starting to lose control of how she looked.

"Well guess what - Jeannie and I despise each other, and I don't know anyone else here, but tha kid's nice, and the wizard doesn't care that I'm a hybrid, and if you hurt anyone in this group at all then I WILL KILL YOU!!!" The last word ended in a howl, and her cliothes ripped as she grew night black wings and a tail, as her hands and feet turned into paws and as her face... streched. She grew wolf fangs in a human mouth and her eyes turned red with bloodlust.

Then, as quickly as it had come the rage ebbed away, and Delphine became - for want of a better word - 'human' again. and stood there, panting.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on January 22, 2008 10:09 AM :

Samson stood up slowly. walked up to Delphine......then smiled and winked. Samson walked outside. looked at the others and headed off in a diffrent direction. Samson creeped through the forrest, then stopped dead when he heard the voice.

" _Have you got the box_ "

"no, master the group.....is resilent"

" _THEN GO!!!! DO NOT COME BACK WITHOUT THE BOX!!!!_ "

Samson scambled away. When he was far away, Samson just panted, he felt something dripping down his face. When he wiped his face, his hand came away covered in red. Samson wiped off the blood. composed himself and walked back towared the group

Posted by **Sgt Delphine** (Member # 5393) on January 23, 2008 06:03 AM :

*He *winked* at me! That, that, *person* after going on about how we killed people, after bl**dy *threatening* me!*

Delphine stood there silently raging, and when Samson came back she hissed at him.

((Does every one remember what I said about my computer and italics, and why I'm using asterixs?))

[ January 23, 2008, 06:04 AM: Message edited by: Sgt Delphine ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 23, 2008 08:54 AM :

The street seemed quiet, to anyone else it would have seemed completely normal. To Jeannie though there was a scene made up entirely of scents. Before she could tell Patrick what she had discovered Samson walked out of the inn and went towards the forest

"You know, I really don't trust him" she said quietly to Patrick as she watched the figure of the man who had so foolishly threatened her dissapear into the dark shadows among the trees.  
Admittedly Jeannie didn't trust anyone much at the moment with the exceptions of Patrick, Mina, Alec and Jake. But being constantly attacked, stalked, chased and threatened can do that to a person.

Anyway, she turned her attention back to the scene at hand. Looking at Patrick she nodded at his question "Yes, there are vampires in Uberwald and indeed it smells asthough one was here not long ago. Also, I can smell blood and..." her head whirled around as another familiar scent caught her attention "....Alec!"

Without waiting she ran towards the source of the scent, she skidded around a corner and found herself exposed at the end of a dark alleyway. She mentally berated herself for putting herself in a potential firing line but when no silver bolts came out of the darkness she hurried towards the dark shape on the ground. As she approached she could hear the footsteps running behind her but knew it was at least one of the others following her and not danger

Jeannie knelt down and reached out to the bleeding battered form of Alec. He was alive...barely. Her heart raced, she swung between fury and wanting to cry.

There was a noise on the rooftops, her head shot upwards and she saw a brief movement as somthing moved back from the edge of the roof high above them. Her lips drew back in a snarl as she made a leap for the edge, but even her skills couldn't propell her body to that much of a height. Frustrated Jeannie tried to clear her revenge filled thoughts and forced herself to think like a watchman. They must return to the inn, make sure Mina was safe and make Alec as comfortable as possible...then it was time for revenge, on the ferals and she would catch who ever had done this...oh yes! She _would_catch them!

Alec was unconcious, so with a strength that belied her petit frame she lifted him and turned back towards the inn, not even trying to hide the tears that rolled freely down her face. Damn Uberwald! Damn Ferals! Damn stupid Box! Damn everything!

She was so angry she didn't even notice the dark shape that soundlessly followed them as they left the alley....

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on January 23, 2008 02:26 PM :

Orcakeline twisted her head in every way and said:

"So,who do I have to hit in case that we are going to be attacked?"the dwarf showed her axe and stood quietly"Do I hit all the werewolves that I do not know?"

She lifted her shoulders in a I-shouldn't-know kind of way and took one step back from the door,so that she doesn't get hit as well.

[ January 30, 2008, 09:37 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 23, 2008 03:08 PM :

Patrick had followed Jeannie to the alley when she found Alec on the ground. He looked bad; Patrick wondered what had been able to do that kind of damage to him.

He hadn't had time to think too much about Samson walking out into the woods by himself. He didn't want to think anything bad about the man that had saved his life, but too much had happened recently to completely ignore the possibilities. He obviously didn't care for the werewolves; Patrick hoped this would not pose a problem later on....

Once they were back inside the inn, he helped Jeannie find a bed for Alec and went to gather some of his left over supplies to clean and dress the wounds. he would heal on his own, but still something should be done.

After a few moments, Patrick found Orcakeline still ready with her weapon by her side. At her question, he looked at her seriously and said, "None of us expect you to take on intruders by yourself, although I don't doubt you could. I would say for now that all of us in here are friendly, so anything or anyone wanting to come in just might be trouble. If you see anyone coming, raise the alarm first, then defend yourself."

He told her that if she found herself in trouble, to head back upstairs; "Fighting up a flight of stairs is harder for the attacker. The defender has the advantage every time. If it comes to that, we'll stop them there."

Not wanting to have a repeat of the embassy fire, Patrick made a mental note to stay away from pyrotechnic displays.

_Might have to dust off some of the ol' skills......._

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 23, 2008 06:36 PM :

Jeannie sat on the side of the bed, her elbows resting on her knees and her hands clasped. She looked down at the sleeping form of Alec, his face was coverd in welts and bruises. The blood was drying as the wounds already began to heal but that didn't quench her emotion at the sight of him in this state.

"What were you doing out there?" Jeannie asked him in a pointless attempt to make sense of all this. The unconcious form of her friend slept on as her tears began to fall

"You idiot! You could have been killed!" she yelled at him as the tears came faster, she stroked his face...."please wake up!".....finally she simply took his hand in hers and squeezed it, hoping for some tiny reaction, anything to let her know he was ok.

She must have been sat like that for some time, watching his face intently for the slightest sign of reaction before the sound of movement by the doorway got her attention...

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on January 23, 2008 07:16 PM :

Samson followed Jeannie up stairs. He leaned against the door frame and looked at Jeannie. While he...didnt like her kind, she was showing that she was diffrent. Ha! right she was...just the same, right. But still, he knew how she was felling.

"you know...when i was part of the Klatchian Foerign Legion, i had a...buddy and when the dregs attacked one night...He was wounded...I stayed with him for sevarl hours...and thats when it dawned on me. I wanted the b*stards that had wounded him. so...GET UP!!! AND LETS GO GET THOSE GODS FORSAKEN FERALS!!!!!"

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 24, 2008 11:30 AM :

Jeannie said nothing at first, she just looked at Samson then back at Alec. The stillness of her posture gave away nothing of the raw emotion that was bubbling underneath, finally it hit a peak but didn't spill over into the expected torrent of rage. Instead, Jeanne stood up and spoke in a voice that was far too calm, perhaps it suggested that perhaps the torrent was only inches away from being unleashed, all it needed was the trigger.

"You're right Samson. Lets go"

She glanced back at Alec before she left the room

_I'm doing this for you...don't you dare go dying on me now!_

and Jeannie left the small bedroom, walked down the creaking, worn stairs that led to the bar and flung open the door to the street...just in time to see a dark shape flinch and slide away into the shadows...

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 25, 2008 02:40 PM :

Patrick didn't realize things would just jump off like this, so he was caught off guard when Jeannie and Samson made for the front door.

"I, er, that is....

_Oh heck_

"I'll be right back."

Patrick ran back up to his room and fumbled around for a minute taking things out of, and then returning things to his bag. He then crept across to Mina's room and found her still sleeping soundly; Twilight was with her as well as another visitor that Patrick didn't know.

"If Twilight says it's okay, then it's okay with me too."

Once again, he fumbled around for a minute, then left the room knowing that she would be safe.

He didn't see anyone else from the group just then except for Orcakeline. Before speaking to her, Patrick left very specific instructions with the innkeeper.

"Orcakeline, it looks like we're about to hit the feral wolves. I know you would be an excellent guard for our friends here, but we could use your fighting skills with us out there as well. If you want to come along, follow me."

With that, Patrick made his way to the front door of the inn, robes flowing behind him like great wings.

_Here we go..._

Posted by **Max aka Helicopterpassoverhead** (Member # 3874) on January 25, 2008 03:08 PM :

'Obviously, you'll hit the attacker. / *hiss*' sneered Snuffles, as a response to Orckakelines question.  
Whitout waiting for an answer, he walked out of the room. He needed some fresh air.  
When passing Samson, he noticed that the mans heart didn't beat right. With this occasion, he also noticed that he could also hear other heartbeats, each unique and inconfoundable.  
As he walked out of the inn, Snuffles tried to get the smell of Samsons blood out of his nose.

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on January 25, 2008 06:43 PM :

Nova watched as the wizard entered and left the room with barely a word.

"Another frined of yours?" he asked.

"Yes," said Twilight, "He's the one Mina's apprenticing under" Nova smiled.

"Lesse," he said, "A small girl with strange powers, and a man obviously well-endowed in the magic department, why does this sound familiar?" Twilight smirked.

"Purely coincidence, I assure you,"

"Wow, Twilight, even when miles away you're right at home," said Nova, "All you're missing is a cat and you-" he caught her gaze and stopped. She smiled innocently.

"Well, actually-," she said sweetly. Nova hit his forehead with his paw

"You never cease to amaze me, little sister"

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on January 25, 2008 06:55 PM :

Orcakeline followed Patrick and heard Snuffles offense(or at least that's what the dwarf thought it was.  
_I don't like what I hear...And I don't appreciate Snuffles say at all_ thought the dwarf and continued following Patrick.

[ January 26, 2008, 11:24 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 26, 2008 01:21 PM :

Patrick continued along with Orcakeline until they caught up with Jeannie and Samson.

"Alright, we're here. Listen, I'll do whatever it takes to help this plan work, but it has been a very long time since I er, harmed anyone. I just want this to become a story we tell around camp fires at night - not something we tell at funerals or grave yards."

He still hadn't forgiven Ridcully for this mess and now he had even more reason to dislike the man.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 26, 2008 02:33 PM :

The faintest hint of dawn light was just beginning to make it's way across this part of the disc. Jeannie stood on the roughly cobbled street outside the inn, it had been a long night. She wondered what this new day would bring, and knew that whatever the outcome it was going to be bloody, vicious and full of action.

She grinned slightly to herself, it was just like another day at work back in Ankh Morpork.

She didn't turn as the other caught up with her, she was watching the place where the shape had slunk into the shadows. She knew that shape, and of course the scent. The young feral wolf from the woods was beginning to get on her nerves, not only because he seemed to be stalking her but also becasue he was so damn good at it

_Well, we either have an unexpected ally, or yet another enemy_

Her mind went back to the image of Alec, beaten to within an inch of his life. Her eyes narrowed, her posture changed. Living in the city had taken the polish off some of her skills, she had become careless....but not now. This was too important. It was time for Jeannie to delve deep inside herself and embrace the wolf within, she had to remember what, and indeed, _who_ she was.

"OK, we all know who our target is. I know where to find them. We have our bait...once this thing starts we will just have to play it as it happens but the objective is simple...killl the Rogue Pack. Once I know that the ferals have taken the bait I'm going into the den. Patrick, your skills could be useful in there...."

She left it at that, she was not going to directly ask him to walk into a den full of werewolves. He was not an officer under her command and she would still think twice even if he was

Looking positivly lethal, she began to walk down the street to the outskirts of the village

"When we get into the forest I'll give the signal. The the fun will start..."

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on January 26, 2008 03:16 PM :

samson followed Jeannie and double checked his weaponry.

"ill climb into a tree and provide sniper support."

When no one was looking Samson took his makeshift bandage off his leg. There wasn't a single sign that a Crossbow bolt and been stuck in his leg a short while ago. There wasnt even a scar. Samson hoped noone noticed. If they found out things would go south in a instant

[ January 26, 2008, 03:17 PM: Message edited by: SGT. Knocker ]

Posted by **Sgt Delphine** (Member # 5393) on January 26, 2008 11:09 PM :

Everyone seemed to have decided that this was where they'd lay the trap, so delphine sat down and howled. She waited. After a few minutes her mother appeared. Along with most of the ferals.

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 27, 2008 02:34 PM :

Patrick barely had enough time to run for cover after Delphine had started howling. He figured his scent would give him away, but it appeared that the arriving pack had focused on her and wasn't too concerned about anything else.

He had never seen so many wolves in one spot at one time. he knew that if this didn't go as planned, it would end in a mess.

Mentally preparing for what lay ahead, he waited for the signal from Jeannie and tried to focus on what spells and curses he may be able to use in short order. Some took too much preparation, others were as simple as one or two words that could be thought, not spoken out loud.

_Oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man, oh man. Let this be quick!_

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 27, 2008 04:06 PM :

Jeannie had been walking ahead of the group, when Delphine howled Jeanie whirled around in shock

_what in hells names does she think she's doing!? The trap isn't ready yet!_

Jeannie flung herself into the undergrowth and changed into wolf shape. She stayed crouched down as she watched the ferals approach. Jeannie was practically alone, a werewolf of noble blood amongst a pack of blood thirsty feral werewolves, she had intended to lead the group a little further on to a perfect spot in a small rocky valley then send out the signal for the Von Adalwulfs and Von Uberwalds to converge but now things had been sprung before they were ready

_I'm gonna bloody well get her for this!_

Jeannie knew they would detect her scent any moment and then she would be dead meat...

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 27, 2008 04:21 PM :

Patrick could see Jeannie just ahead of him in the brush and tried to move closer without drawing too much attention to himself.

Jeannie was in wolf form but he thought he could try to talk to her anyway. He lowered his voice to the barest of whispers...

J-e-a-n-n-i-e-! I-s t-h-e c-a-v-e u-p a-h-e-a-d?

I-s i-t c-l-o-s-e?

He was buzzing with adrenalin. Any minute now the ferals would be able to smell the mix of fear and anger oozing out of him.

_If she can distract them for a minute and give me a head start, maybe I can make a run for the cave. They'll chase me...._

That's where the rest got a bit fuzzy. He knew the chasing would happen, but was a bit wobbly on what would happen right after that.


	6. Chapter 6

Posted by **Sgt Delphine** (Member # 5393) on January 28, 2008 02:26 AM :

Delphine knew the trap wasn't set, but she couldn't wait. if she waited she'd start thinking and if she thought she wouldn't do it.

Her mother was human - a rarity for her.  
"Why did you howl?" Her mother asked imperious as anything.  
"For the pleasure of your company." Delphine answered sarcasticaly  
"Impudent cub." Her mother slapped her and one of her nails left a cut on one of Delphine's cheeks. As blood left the cut Delphine's eye's went red and her lips drew back in a snarl.  
"That, mother dear, will cost you. I *was* going to be polite and tell you where the Adalwulf girl - who despite your best efforts is still alive - is hiding, but know I think I'll let you look for her yourself - and fail miserably. Unless, of course, you manage to... convince me to do otherwise."

Her mother's lips went white and her eyes turned to slits. The entire pack was focused on what the crazy hybrid and their leader were doing.

*Please, oh please, oh please let this work.* Delphine prayed. *Let her be to angry to notice the others and the reat be to focused on us to notice them. Also it'd be helpful if Jeannie or Jake were stealthy enough to sneak away and call the other packs...*

[ January 28, 2008, 02:27 AM: Message edited by: Sgt Delphine ]

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on January 28, 2008 12:05 PM :

Samson hid in a tree, His crossbow sighted at what appeared to be the head of the pack. well time to put the masters plan in action. Shifting his aim Samson fired a silver bolt into one of the pack, lit one of his fire bombs, threw it into the middle of the clearing. The clearing burst into flames. while everyones attention was diverted, Samson jumped down from the tree and headed back for the inn.

It was time to get that damn Box.

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 28, 2008 01:00 PM :

Patrick jumped when he heard the yelp from one of the wolves and then a fire-bomb exploded! He was sure something had gone wrong.

_Weren't they supposed be inside the cave when we did this? Oh man...._

The pack had worked itself up into a frenzy and the howling took on an ominous tone, more so than before.

_We have to get them into the cave. How do you get a bunch of wolves to want to run into a cave? How do you get...._

Cursing under his breath, Patrick let the overflow of adrenaline take control. He kept low to the ground for as long as he could to give himself as much of a head start as he could muster, then...

Jumping up and running along the trail as fast as he could, he headed for what he hoped would be mouth of the cave. It didn't take long for him to regret his decision; he hadn't run for so long that his lungs and legs both burned with the effort after a short distance.

It took him a second to realize that the howls had been replaced with a fierce growling and snarling that he didn't need translated.

They had spotted him!

He'd lost sight of Delphine once he had initially tried to hide and after the attack on the pack he'd developed a bit of tunnel vision and had lost track of Jeannie. For all he knew Orcakeline had already hacked half the pack to death with her axe.

_I hope Samson is keeping up that sniper fire he promised!_

But Patrick didn't hear anymore fire-bombs or yelps of pain coming from behind him - all he could hear now was the snapping of jaws!

As he ran on he could just make out the cave up in the distance. He'd never make it like this! They'd be on him in a minute. His whole body burned and felt numb from running so hard; his blood pounded in his ears and his vision began to darken. Patrick was about to pass out.

Reaching into his robe, he pulled out a small round mass about the size of a plum; holding it tight in his hand for just a second it grew warm and began to smoke. Throwing back over his shoulder, it impacted the ground and exploded in a flash of white light and three successive concussions that nearly lifted him off of his feet.

Dirt and rocks sprayed up into the air and he heard several of the pack stumble and fall over each other in the confusion.

_Just.. a.. little... bit... more!_

He'd no sooner let that thought out when it was immediately followed by its little brother -

_Then what happens?_

[ January 28, 2008, 01:39 PM: Message edited by: Thumpy ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 28, 2008 02:55 PM :

Jeannie lay in the dense undergrowth, completey still. When she heard Delphines admission of her intended treachery Jeannies eyes narrowed but she managed to swallow down the growl that tried to rise in her throat

_The deceitful traiterous b*tch!_

Jeannies thoughts were full of murder at the sheer impudence of the hybrid, but a more important issue right now was to get back up for the attack. Perhaps fuelled by the blood red thoughts that were swirling around her head Jeannie used every ounce of skill and stealth that her powerful body possessed to slink back away from the clearing that contained the ferals and that damn hybrid...centuries of werewolf blood came to Jeannies aid and even the gaunt wild werewolf who had followed her so easily would have been impressed at the silence and stealth with which she moved...which is why it was so unfortunate that Samson chose that moment to unleash the firebomb  
She was fortunatly fairly far away from the initial blast and through the smoke she saw the form of Patrick sprinting towards the cave. OK, well time to summon the rest of the werewolves, Jeannie sent out the howl....it's powerful resonance carriying for miles.

Then without any further hesitation Jeannie sprang forward and followed the wizard, knowing that they would have the help they needed very soon. She just hoped it would be soon enough...

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on January 28, 2008 03:48 PM :

Samson walked into the inn and looked at the bartender, who slowly nodded. Samson started up the stairs, he slung his crossbow and pulled out his two pistol bows.

He got to Patricks room and headed for the hiding place of the box. When Samson got it he let out a sigh of relief. As samson reached around to put it in his pack a voice came from the shadows.

"Drop the Box."

Samson whirled around and aimed one of his pistol bows...and stared as Broc walked out of the shadows.

"Nice to finally meet you....son"

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on January 28, 2008 06:51 PM :

Mina sat up and yawned, she thought she had heard someone running up the stairs and it had woken her. Mina had got used to making no sound in waking, as it usually meant that people got angry, so she quietly got out of bed and tiptoed out of her room. As she did so she noticed a new cat!  
"Kitty!" She whispered "goog kitty! Are you friends with Twilight? I like twi-ight.."

Mina crept out of the room to the source of a noise. She caught the end of the conversation:  
_"...meet you son"_  
Mina peered round the door. There was a man with a crossbow, but what she noticed first was Broc and the fact that the other man. The one who had been downstairs, was holding the box!!!

Mina ran into the middle of the room horrified.  
"Broc! He's not allowed the box! It'll do bad bad bad baad things if he has it! The monsters will get us!"  
Mina ran forwards and tried to grab the box off the man.  
"It's closed! s'closed, s'closeds'closed'closedsclosed!" Mina was shouting this in the hope of convincing the box to stay closed. She took hold of the box and tried to tug it out of the man's hands.

Posted by **Sgt Delphine** (Member # 5393) on January 28, 2008 08:44 PM :

Delphine yelped at the fire and ran. She saw Samson running to the inn and followed. Then she heard what Broc said.  
"Terribly sorry Broc, I need to kill your son for throwing a fire bomb without any warning and almost killing me." That being said she punched Samson in the gut.

(((I won't be posting as much from now on because I go back to school tomorrow. Just so you know.)))

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on January 28, 2008 09:53 PM :

Samson let out a grunt and flew through the wall. though he had been able to hold on to the Box. Samson used his pain surpresion, and sprinted off into the night.

Broc picked up Mina

"yes Mina ill stop the monsters. but first i gotta go help our friends. Twilight! help her out. Delphine cmon we gotta go help them."

Broc ran out the inn and towards the fire. He saw Jeannie run towards the cave and the wolves chassing Patrick.

Broc yanked out his sword and waved it over his head.

"Its good to be back!"

And charged into the fray

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on January 29, 2008 12:46 PM :

Orcakeline killed two more components of the pack she turned her head and looked towards Jeannie and then towards Patrick.

Something rough bit her by her left axe fell down and a rush of blood floated from her vines.

"Oh..that,er,hurts..."

Orcakeline leaned on the ground,she faced the smallest bug that was passing by and took a break while ferals were kicking and bitting started muttering nonsenses and like a lightening she took out a piece of dwarfish bread she remembered she always kept which was from her mother who gave her that before she died and howled:

"You B*ASTARDS!!!!!!!!!You all are going ter dieeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"and as if the wolves were bad aliens,Orcakeline kicked some alien b*tt with a small piece of bread!

That was quite a scene!She got to kill all the things in the pack that were circling her for the first 100 meters and seeing Patrick do that Boom-effect she took her axe in the bleeding hand and kept the bread in the right hand and ripped off all the heads of the ferals behind Patrick.

On very funny thing kept all know Orcakeline is capable of talking and understanding animals,but this time probably instead of "Don't kill me!" she heard the wolves say "Please kill me"  
She asked herself _Why hear that and not the opposite?Since when do animals want to die?at least if they were depressed...Strange thing..Well,life is an open unfinished book,what can I say?_

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 29, 2008 01:40 PM :

Patrick got to the mouth of the cave and mangaed to get a few feet inside before his legs gave out and he fell to the ground.

As he hit the rocky floor, he had the sense of mind to roll onto his back to see his attackers. His breathing came in short, rasping, gasps, but now that he was still and flat, his possibility of passing out was minimal.

He had only a second of peace before the growling became louder and the sound of paws scrabbling up the path clearer.

_Damn.....not...like...this!_

Putting his hands together to create the spell was not easy; he was shaking from the adrenaline dump and the exertion.

The floor was cold and damp and the first rays of sunlight backlit the wolf as it crept nearer. Patrick had never been this close to an enreaged werewolf before; its teeth bared, saliva dripping from the open mouth, The wolf kept its head low, and looked prepared to pounce in a second.

Movement outside showed a second and third werewolf moving up, defeating any chance of escape.

"Alright you bastards! ALRIGHT! You want me, huh?  
You got me! But I promise you, you will all go with me!"

He didn't know if they could understand him, but then again, he didn't care. He'd probably be able to take one or two good bites from them, but then he'd loose the spell and drop the cave on top of them. And him.

As they crept up closer to him, slobbering and growling with claws scraping on the stone floor, Patrick found himself almost chuckling.

_They have no idea. I can take them all out right now - and they have no idea._

Just then as he faced down the three wolves, Patrick remembered....Mina!

He let out a sigh and felt himself sag further onto the floor. He'd promised to take care of her, took her away from everything she knew with the promise of adventure - and now.....

AHEM.

EXCUSE ME, DO YOU PLAN ON TAKING LONG? I HAVE OTHER APPOINTMENTS TO KEEP.

"Oh crap."

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 29, 2008 04:10 PM :

Jeannie paws slipped on the rock around the cave entrance, she had been slightly too slow and could see three large werewolves at the cave mouth. She knew Patrick was in there but three werewolves would be too much, still she slowly scrabbled up towards them.

Two grey shapes suddenly bounded past her and wasted no time in launching at the attacking wolves. She could smell that they were from Jake family. Jeannie wasn't far behind them and made a leap for the one who was advacncing on a very pissed off looking Patrick. Jeannie could sense the magic in the cave, it made her fur bristle. The attacking wolf though had heard Jeannies approach and neatly side stepped as she lept, resulting in Jeannie hurtling past the wolf and almost colliding with Patrick.

The resulting snigger from the wolf made Jeannie feel the surge of anger rise a little bit more. Standing up she held direct eye contact with the feral wolf, she recognised it as the one who had got away from her family in the forests of Uberwald

Her lips drew back revealing the lethally sharp and numerous teeth that could slice through muscle and sinew as if it were butter, her ears flattened and she snarled in a way that had sent shivers down the spines of living creatures since times long forgotten. It was a primal sound that meant impending death

She didn't waste words on the creature infront of her. Behind him came the yelps, growls and horribly organic ripping sounds of the packs tearing into each other. Not breaking eye contact until the last second Jeannie lept and soon her and the feral wolf were a furry bledding blur as they fought to the death...fortunatly it was the feral who would not see another day, Jeannie was amazingly unhurt. A few superficial wounds but she was so full of adrenaline she didn't even notice these minor injuries. There were so many furry shapes outside the cave it was impossible to tell who was on which side. But Jeannie knew Alecs treacherous brother would be in here somwhere, he wasa the sort of coward who would happily give out instructions of murder and death but never place himself in harms way, preffering to send others out to carry out his dirty work. She was sure he was behind the recent attacks...

She turned to Patrick

_Come on, this way! Into the caves!_ all she got was a blank look. Of course she was talking in canine, he couldn;t understand. Rolling her eyes she showed him what she meant the only way a canine can do when they are trying to tell a human about trouble. Feeling far too much like a 'good dog' she pulled on his robes with her teeth then ran down the passage a little way before running back up to him again and barking....

_If you ever tell anyone I did this!.........._ thought the proud werewolf as she ran further ahead into the passage

Posted by **Max aka Helicopterpassoverhead** (Member # 3874) on January 29, 2008 04:23 PM :

Snuffles was leaping around the rooftops, dealing lots of damage due to his massive size. As he crashed into a chimney, he noticed massive thumping noises coming from somewhere outside the city.  
Heartbeats, and not just any heartbeats. Wolves heartbeats and lots and lots of blood.  
He skittered to ground level and dashed towards the beats, in a daze.

The first werewolf he had encountered had been unlucky enough to be alone in the surrounding area. Except for Snuffles, who, in his current state of mind, wan't very good company.

In the thick of the battle, Snuffles reached a cave and noticed the werewolves. Then he recognised Patrick and gave out a menacing hiss which gave a disturbing echo. All werewolves turned to Snuffles, who was suddendly feeling very cat-like again.

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on January 29, 2008 06:15 PM :

While all the werewolves were looking at Snuffles,the dwarf came into action again.

"What werewolf pack are you from?"asked Oracakeline every single feral she intended to kill.  
And the answer came vague"I' from the ... pack,why ask?"  
And if it was a bad werewolf,well,then it had a tragic there was one thing that was of utter most one heard the dwarfs action,so she killed pretty many in a few seconds,not distracting the other that were still focusing on Snuffles.

_Can't wait ter finish all these things off...Because I'm exhausted..._

Hoping nobody noticed,she preferred taking Snuffles way and stand in front of the row of ferals in front of him,so she could defend him with her fearsome axe and with her small rough and tough piece of bread.

[ January 29, 2008, 06:16 PM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on January 30, 2008 01:03 PM :

Annie had hid for a while after everyone started fighting, half out of corwardice and half because she didn't see the point in fighting. It's not like she was going to get the box anyway, and that was all anybody cared about. Her parents would rather her returning dead to Ankh-Morpork than alive and not carrying the box with her.

But she still had the dagger with her, and because a part of her was longing to fight, she left her hiding place. She used the strategy of fighting that she always had- kicking and attempting to stab anybody who she didn't immediately recognise as on her side. For some reason she smiled, but it was a smile comepletely controlled by the darker side of her mind. It was an evil smile, and at that realisation Annie felt even more pleased with herself.

Her dagger now had blood on it for the first time in months. Her parents had to be proud of her now. They just had to be.

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 30, 2008 01:45 PM :

Patrick had been startled by the sudden attack on the three wolves in front of him and almost let loose the spell that he'd been forming. As he scrambled to his feet, he stepped backwards and suddenly felt a very cold chill.

AHEM.

Slowly turning around he came face to robe with Death.

I DON'T MEAN TO INTERRUPT, BUT I REALLY MUST INSIST WE...

"What? I'm alive! I'm here! They didn't get me, can't you see that?"

Patrick stopped babbling when he realized that that is what everyone probably says...

IF YOU WOULD PLEASE...ER...OH YES, SHUT UP, THERE IS SOMETHING YOU NEED TO KNOW.

"Oh right. Yes. There is. What?"

THE BOX IS GONE. IT HAS BEEN STOLEN. THE ONE CALLED SAMSON HAS TAKEN IT FROM THE INN. YOU WILL RECOVER IT. THIS IS NOT AN OPTION.

_The inn! I forgot I left it there. Mina!_

THE ONE CALLED MINA PUT A FINAL SPELL ON THE BOX BEFORE IT WAS TAKEN, BUT IT WILL NOT LAST IF LEFT ALONE FOR LONG.

Death began to fade away as he finished and Patrick felt the sudden tug on his robes by the one werewolf he was glad to see this close up.

_What?_

I DO BELIEVE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO FOLLOW HER. FURTHER INTO THE CAVE.

Turning to Jeannie, Patrick said, "Oh right. Alright, I'm with you!"

Taking one last look over his shoulder he saw the damage his rescuers had done and allowed a slight shiver to race across his body.

As he made his way down into the bowels of the caves, he thought he heard a distinct voice off in the distance say, "WOULDN'T GET _ME _DOWN THERE."

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on January 30, 2008 03:51 PM :

Broc stormed into the cave yelling and screaming, knocking over the remaining werewolves. He saw Patrick and Jeannie going deeper into the cave.

"Hey! Wait for me!"

Meanwhile, in the forrest......

Samson got to the meeting place, and bent over and breathed. when he stood back up he grunted in pain, that hit Delphine had landed on him had been quite painful. Then he saw the dark shadow in front of him and Dropped to his knees.

"_Did you bring the box?_"

"yes master"  
Samson lifted the box. Two thin, pale arms reached out for it, but drew back with a hiss when they touched the Box.

" _There is some kind of..., it is very powerful, no matter, this can be easily dealt with._"

the shadow seemed to think...then

" _you must kill the child_"  
Samson's head shot up

"What? no, master i can't."

" _you will, or i will kill your mother._"

"But, master-"

" _GO!!!_ "

Samson hung his head and walked off.  
as he walked through the forrest tears rolled down his cheeks.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on January 30, 2008 05:14 PM :

The light faded into total darkness as Jeannie and Patrick made their way cautiously further into the den. Jeannie thought back to an old colleague of hers from the watch. He was a vampire and, like all his kind,could sense heartbeats, it would have been a handy skilll to have had with them right now so they could have had some idea of how many werewolves were in here with them but instead Jeannie had to rely on her ears and nose.

She crept forward silently, keeping infront of Patrick the whole time. They passed numerous passages and openings but Jeannie was following one particular scent. It wasn't long though before there was the sounds of paws running over stone behind them and a sharp bark

_Adalwulf!_

As Jeannie turned there was the sounds of more of the ferals appearing from the various network of passages around them. As Jeannie backed up towards Patrick in what would be futile effort to protect the wizard she thought she heard Broc shouting. If she was human shaped she would have tolf Patrick to use his magic, to toast the ferals alive but she wasn't and she had no time to change, so she did the only thing she could do. She threw back her head and let out the loudest howl she could. Hopefully not only would Patrick recognise it as a signal to kick some tail but maybe it would reach the rest of their side and maybe help would come.

Daunted only slightly by the sudden howl the four werewolves around them shied back for a moment then advanced....

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on January 30, 2008 05:46 PM :

_Oh my,good thing I understand animal language too..I gotta run!Now!_  
And Orcakeline made a tremendous effort and ran toward the cage,killing every werewolf who crossed her path,and it wasn't a happy ending for them!

"You beasts!!!!!You try and kill MY friends??????Well it's bed-time for you,kitty-like-punished-bobby-faced-blackened-eyed-L-forehead-shaped-little-disgusting-creatures!!!!!!!!You're not getting away from me!AAAaaaaaarrrGGGGhhhhh!!!!!!"

Orcakeline broke through several rows of ferals and killed all of them,kicking the ill-sick-faced-creatures and flipping her bread and axe like a ballerina shoe.

Soon she got at the entrance of the cave and there she knew she had to kill all the pack,and that's what she did.

"Hold on felaaaaaaaaaaaaas!!!!!!!I'm coooooooooooming!!!!!"was the echo that filled the whole cave...

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on January 30, 2008 06:03 PM :

'Ooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!' Cried Mina as she let go of the box. She attempted to run after the man with the box, but he was too fast for her, and the others were in the way. 'Bad cat Twi'ight!' She said resentfully, 'He's not allowed the box.'

Mina thought a strong thought: _No one can let mrs Jessel out! They don't know her! I'm not going to let_ anyone_ who doesn't know her let her out_.

'Who's the other cat?' Mina asked the room in general, 'Where's the others?'  
She was now wide awake, and started to walk to the entrance and out of the pub.

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on January 31, 2008 06:06 AM :

Not entirely understanding what was going on, Patrick was beginning to feel that his rescue had only delayed the inevitable.

_I thought we were going to get out of here, but now there's more of these ferals._

Noise echoed through the caves; he could hear what sounded like human foot falls running, coming closer. He also thought he heard a voice, maybe Orcakleine, but the echo distorted what she had said.

"Jeannie! i don't know if you understand this, but we have to do something now! The box has been stolen - I don't know what has happened back at the inn!"

Just then the closest of the feral wolves made a move towards them and Patrick let loose a fire ball that cuaght on the fur of the beast. Howling in pain, the wolf turned and ran back down the side passage it had come from.

The other three backed off but only momentarily, once again they bared their fangs and crept foward.

Another fire ball, this one exploding against the wall dripped fire and sparks onto the ground. In just that second, Patrick could see the glow of several more pairs of eyes approaching in the darkness.

"Oh hell. We'll be here for days!"

As the wolves struggled with the desire to kill and the need to stay away from the fire, Patrick pulled out the only other trick that had worked reliably in the last few days.

Placing his hands on either side of the passage, he concentrated as well as he could while the remnants of the fire effect flowed closer to him on the floor.

_Solid!_

Like huge mouths closing, the opening of each of the side passages began to shrink, trapping the ferals inside each one. The sound of stone stretching and growing is impossible to describe; it is the sound the Discworld made at birth and noone was there to hear it.

After a few seconds Jeannie, Patrick and the remaining three ferals were alone in the main hall of the cave.

The sound of footsteps approaching signaled help arriving.

_I hope none of those passages have exits!_

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on January 31, 2008 10:37 AM :

Orcakeline ran like the wind toward Jeannie and Patrick,killing all the werewolves that crossed her was furious at the thought someone was about to torture _her_ friends!

She could already see Patrick hand rise.A slayer-sound could be heard ,made by Orcakeline's piece of bread.

Soon she killed all the ferals in the cage(on the main corridor) and got to Patrick and Jeannie.

"Oh,hey!Are you guys OK?I'm fi...."  
And the dwarf collapsed on the was probably just the narrator can't know either.

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on January 31, 2008 04:26 PM :

Twilight panicked as Mina started toward the door and ran after her, followed by Nova. He was faster and got and got to the door first. He stood in between Mina and the entrance.

_"Mina! Don't go out there,"_ he said. _"There are a lot of bad wolves outside thet your friends are fighting. If you go out there now you'll get hurt!"_

_"My borhter's right,"_ said Twilight, coming up behind them, _"You could get killed if you go out there"_ She walked up to her brother, _"Nova, I need to talk to you,"_

There was a whispered conversation between the two cats. Nova suddenly became very angry.

_"Are you crazy!?"_ he shouted, _"You can't do that! Our family back home needs you!"_ Twilight hit him with her paw, a universal equivelant to telling someone to hush up incase the other occupant in the room hears you. Nova didn't speak, but anxiety was radiating off of him like smoke.

_"Stay with her, Nova,"_ she said, firmly. She gave one last look to Mina before she turned and ran out of the inn

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 01, 2008 04:52 AM :

He had been amazed at the speed and efficiency with which the dwarf had killed the remaining three wolves, now Patrick bent down to check on Orcakeline as she lay on the ground.

"She's alive."

In the first few seconds of relative quiet that followed the rescue, Patrick could hear the very faint howls and scrapes coming from the other side of the newly formed rock barriers.

"They must know they are trapped. They are panicking now."

Looking back at Jeannie, he tried to figure out if they were truly free from the ferals now.

"Do you think that was all of them? I don't know these caves, so do we leave the way we came in or do we go further?"

Patrick then had a thought; _Delphine!_

Yes she had sprung the trap early and yes maybe there was some tension between her and Jeannie that could lead to troubles later on - but she _did_ spring the trap and she _did_ agree to help the group. Even more importantly, she _didn't_ tell her mother where Patrick, Jeannie or ....Samson had been hiding.

_Samson. What is his alliance? First he saves me from certain death, he helps with the attack on the ferals and then he turns on us._

Patrick was drained. Both the physical and mental effort expended in the last few minutes was more than he'd been ready for. But one new mission crept to the front of his mind.

_If he has hurt anyone back at the inn.....I'll kill him._

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 01, 2008 02:00 PM :

Samson slowly walked into the inn. He saw Mina and that other cat that was with Twilight, Though he didnt see Twilight. When the cat noticed Samson, it hissed and jumped for Samsons face. it never made it. about half way to Samsons face it met a pistol bow bolt. Samson neatly side stepped the sliding cat body. He slowly loaded the same bow and walked up to Mina and put the bow to the quivering girls head and...

Hesitated...

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 01, 2008 07:02 PM :

"Put it down Samson, and back away from the girl."

Lilah stepped out of the corner of the room, pointing her crossbow steadily at him. HE looked at her, confused.

"Yes, im still alive. No thanks to you. Why the hell did you leave me to the ferals!??!" She took a breath, trying to calm down. "Finding you was difficult, but not as difficult as escaping. The urge to kill YOU is quite strong right now...but first what you did to me? and now threatening the girl...its unlike you. So tell me. What are you doing? Stealing something, obviously. But why the excessive behaviour?"

She waited to see what Samson would do.

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on February 01, 2008 07:49 PM :

Mina stopped in her tracks at Twilight's warning. She watched as Twilight ran off and asked,  
"Where's she gone Nova?"

Nonplussed by Twilight's disappearance, Mina didn't have the time to move as Samson approached her. She remained silent as he put the pistol bow up to her head. Her instinct told her that if she cried out, if she moved suddenly now. Something would happen. So, although she was terribly afraid, she stayed stock still.

She was relieved when someone distracted him. Maybe now she could escape..

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on February 01, 2008 10:53 PM :

Nova slid into the wall and staggered around before hitting the ground. He looked to the bolt that was now potruding from his arm. With a sigh, Nova concentrated for a moment before the bolt disintergrated ina brief ocatrine flame, leaving his arm completely unharmed.

_"Well, that was rather rude of him,"_ he said to himself. Nova looked to Mina and froze at the sight of the bolt now being aimed at her. He began to breathe again when he was stopped by the new girl in the room. When he was sure that the girl had Samson's attention, Nova snuck over to Mina.

_"Mina,"_ he said, _"On the count of three, turn around and run as fast as you can out the back door, don't look back, I'll be following close behind. Ready? One..two..THREE!"_

Twilight ran through the woods, following the magic aura that had been left by Patrick. She hoped with every ounce of her being that Nova could protect Mina until she got back with the wizard. That box had to be destroyed before anyone else got hurt.

She didn't stop running until she was forced to by a rather large wolf paw. She hit the ground and skidded to a stop on her back. Rolling over, Twilight came face to face with what looked like a pack of ferals. Some of them had scars and matted fur. She opened her mouth to gasp, but the look on the ferals' faces suggested that the second she moved would be her last. All she could do was sit frozen to the spot, too frightened even to shake at the sight of the drooling mouths

[ February 01, 2008, 10:54 PM: Message edited by: Blazing Moon ]

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 02, 2008 12:27 AM :

Samson jerked around in surprise. it couldnt be. but it was. she was still alive.

"But...i saw them drag you away."

He turned back around and noticed the cat mewing at Mina. Samson dropped the bow and sank down to his knees. and looked at the floor and gave a single sentence that he hoped would answer all of Lilah's questions

"I was hired by the 'Client'"

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 02, 2008 03:18 AM :

Jeannie could only watch as everything happened in a blur around her. Finally when it was quiet and Patrick had checked Orcakeline Jeannie had a chance to take stock of the situation.

She understood Patricks question perfectly but had a new problem now, how to answer him. She was still in wolf form and there was no-one around who could translate...her problem was soon solved though, and not in a good way, by the sound of human footfalls approaching at the opposite end of the great hall. A slow clapping sound could be heard as the dark haired stranger approached. Unlike his brother this werewolf had intense green eyes and they gave off a soft eerie glow down here in the gloom of the cave. He stopped clapping and spoke

"Well done Jeannie, who would have thought that my dear brother would send _you_ as his champion."

His voice full of hatred and sarcasm he approached fearlessly, or perhaps stupidly, and Jeannie took the typical crouching attack stance whilst growling at him.

_Don't take another step Andre...I've come here for you. This ends now!_

He did stop but his face showed no fear, his features were highlighted by the strange green glow in his eyes.

"You can't stop this Jeannie. The Movement is too strong. We shall overthrow you and you precious 'noble' families and the werewolves shall rule as we are meant to!"

_Not while I still have breath in my body!_

Now an evil smile crept along Andres face

"Then we shall have to see what we can do about that then shan't we!? I'll give your friends here a reasonable chance to escape but _you_ won't leave these caves alive"

There was no choice really, she had no idea how many more wolves Andre could summon to his aid. Her duty was to the others first and foremost. Not taking her eyes of the grinning Andre, who's manical expression was disturbing to see, Jeannie barked to Patrick

_Get the dwarf and anyone else out of here now! Get back to Mina. GO NOW!!_

Andre translated what Jeannie had said to Patrick and fixed his evil grin on the wizard

"You should do as she said Wizard, things are going to get interesting here very shortly. You and your friends should run whilst I still feel inclined to let you go"

Jeannie snarled at him, Andre looked back at her his face beginning to change shape....

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on February 02, 2008 06:50 AM :

Orcakeline crept her eyes open and peeked .She saw an ugly thing and sensed the danger.

After that thing told Patrick to leave with her,Orcakeline checked her axe and her bread and found one more long and big and tough piece of dwarf rising from the cold floor she grabbed Jeannie's foot so she could rise easier and stuck the big piece of bread through her fur,hiding it very well so not to be seen but as her to notice the thing.

The dwarf thought quite hard and tried to send a thought to sounded like this:

_My mothers dwarf bread has a very funny way of helping the the werewolves come towards you or run after you,use this and throw it somewhere where you want to make them will thing it's you,because the bread will smell like return to human form so as wolves not to find not,just kick them with this bread and they'll regret their plan!Good luck!_

The dwarf looked into Jeannie's eyes and saw not only a fearsome wolf,but a friend.

Orcakeline turned to Patrick and waited too see his plan.

[ February 02, 2008, 10:00 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 02, 2008 09:56 AM :

Lilah noticed the girl and the cats bolt from the room, but didnt pay much attention to it.

Yeh, and i saw you watch them do so. Almost like you gave me to them-" She saw Samson drop to his knees, and gasped slightly at his mention of The Client.

"The client? They dont hire, they...force. And whatever they're threatening you with, they'll do anyway. Whether you succeed or not".

Lilah sighed, and walked over to Samson.

"c'mon, lets get you out of here before the girl comes back with her friends."

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 02, 2008 11:59 AM :

Jeannie looked kindly down at Orcakeline

_I thank you but it's going to take more than that to beat this werewolf. You and Patrick must go...now. I can't keep you safe from this one, I think he has command of the others. Please, do as I ask_

Jeannie couldn't stall for time any longer, walking forward she was acutley aware of the change happening in Andre. He was going to strike soon. Hoping that her friends would do as she asked Jeannie kept approaching Alecs brother. She couldn't watch out for the others now, she would need to keep completely focused on the inevitable fight if she was to have any chance of walking away afterwards.

The nasty smile was still evident on Andres face, keeping his eyes focused on her he began to circle around her

"So, my brother called you to his aid?"

Jeannie said nothing, she just turned as he turned, keeping her eyes on his. Still smiling he carried on

"You won't win, The Movement will seize control of Uberwald. All the noble families will be eradicated or forced to join our cause!"

Now Jeannie spoke, quietly, as she turned never letting Andre out of her sight

_And so you started with your own?_

Andres sneered

"My father was weak! He should have put my freakish siblings to death at birth! They are not of true blood...they can not rule! All the nobles are weak...it takes _true_ strength to live the life of a wild werewolf!"

She had hit a nerve there, Jeannie pressed on now she had found an opening

_Freaks? They are yennorks, they __**are**__ of you own blood. Your sisters and your brother...as much a werewolf as you are..._

"NO!"

The bark came loud and echoed in the cavern around them, Andre changed his form and as a wolf he snarled at Jeannie

_They are weak!! Alec is weak! You are weak! Uberwald shall be ruled by the strong!! We shall purge the lands, the wild wolves shall rule in the place of the over fed nobles who do not use their power as they should!!_

Jeannie stopped turning

_You are insane! now I will stop you. Let's see if I am as weak as you think I am shall we Andre?_

snarling, her teeth bared, the golden furrred werewolf that was Jeannie lept at Alecs brother...

[ February 02, 2008, 12:04 PM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 02, 2008 01:40 PM :

Patrick had heard the command to leave but was hesitant to obey. He knew it had been Jeannie that issued it, but still....Patrick might not be the bravest soul around, but he wasn't the kind to run away either.

He listened to the exchange between Jeannie and the other, only understanding half of it. He watched as Andres started to change and realized that Jeannie would have to fight this one in personal combat - he would not be able to - or expected to help.

"Come on Orcakeline, we have to go. We must check on the others at the inn."

With that, the two took off at a run from the cave, Patrick still felt bad about turning his back on her, but Jeannie was more adept at handling this sort of thing. Patrick was little more than an illusionist.

As they exited the cave and found the trail that would take them back to the inn, Patrick took in the scale of the slaughter that had occured in the battle. Dozens of dead or dying wolves lay around the mouth of the cave and down the trail; some were breathing their last, others were vainly trying to move.

Patrick looked down at Orcakeline as they made their way along and took in the reality of what had happened. He had no reason to doubt her before this, but had found a whole new respect for the dwarf.

_Amazing..._

Rounding a bend in the trail the two skidded to a halt at the sight of a few remaining ferals huddled around the very still form of Twilight, holding her ground against the pack.

Patrick placed his hand on Orcakelines shoulder and motioned quietly for her to follow him into the tree-line alongside the trail. He whispered to her..

*We have to be very careful here Orcakeline, the ferals have the advantage. They will see or smell us long before we can get close enough to ambush them.*

The last thing he wanted was for Twilight to become a snack for one of the wolves because he had mucked this up....

*We have to draw them away from her.*

Patrick wondered if presenting them with a bigger feast would be enough to get them away from Twilight.

*I think I may be able to get them to come this way. Stay very still until the last second - and then take out the last one as he passes you. I'll deal with the first one - from there on, it's take your pick*

Without thinking too much about what he was about to do, Patrick reached out a hand and grabbed the blade of the axe that Orcakeline carried. The blade was thankfully still very sharp and the cut on his can bled freely.

Smearing the blood on his face and neck and then wiping it on his clothes, Patrick stood up from their hiding spot in the trees and crept down the trail, feigning a limp as he walked.

"Oh....oh....help....someone help!"

_I just turned myself into the biggest buffet this side of Lancre...I hope this works._

[ February 02, 2008, 03:29 PM: Message edited by: Thumpy ]

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on February 02, 2008 02:02 PM :

Suddenly, Twilight was no more than a part of the background to the small pack of ferals as they turned to Patrick, though it be nearly impossible for a wolf, grinning. She unfroze and took in the scene.

_"Patrick, you idiot,"_ she whispered to herself, _"You're the one I was coming to save,"_ She made a mental note that if he let himself get eaten by the ferals, she just might have to kill him. She paused when she realized the immense lack of logic in this thought, and resolved that it must have been the human part of her thinking it..yeah..it must've been....right?

Now that they were headed for Patrick, she could at least take one down. Twilight leaped onto the turned back of the nearest feral and scratched her way up to its head. It began to try and shake her off, but she had her claws dug firmly into it. She began wildly scratching at it face, hissing and letting her alleycat blood take over, until she dropped off and the wolf ran off whimpering and bleeding

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 02, 2008 03:22 PM :

The two werewolves clashed as they both sprang at each other. Andre was slightly bigger than Jeannie and his momentum and weight gave him an advantage. He knocked Jeannie to the ground and wasted no time in following up with a vicious attack. Jeannie managed to move quickly enough so that his teeth connected with her shoulder and not her throat, even so the pain was red hot and intense. She growled and whirled around at him, managing to connect with a good bite to his soft fleshy abdomen.

She fought ferociously...unfortunately so did Andre and before long the stone floor of the cave was slippery with blood. This made the fight even more unpredictable. Andre poised to leap at Jeannie but lost his footing and tumbled rather ungraciously into a wall, Jeannie took her chance and was upon him in a second. As she closed her jaws around his throat she dimly thought about how many times she had fought for her life since that damn box had shown up.

Andre interrupted these thoughts with a kick as he tried to struggle out of her grasp, his paw connected with the exact place that the shiny red scar from the silver knife still was visible on her ribs. The pain was excruciating!!

Red dots danced before her eyes as she staggered backwards. Something inside her snapped. All the pent up rage, all the emotion...it came forth as The Wolf. No-one had ever seen Jeannie cut loose like this. Now not only was she in wolf shape but the thinking part of Jeannie was drowned out by the pure primal beast within.

Her eyes glowing a vivid orange she stood up growling, she turned to Andre who despite himself flinched under her gaze. A blood curdling snarl came forth from a blood soaked mouth. The creature that was Jeannie went in for the kill....

Posted by **Max aka Helicopterpassoverhead** (Member # 3874) on February 02, 2008 04:30 PM :

Snuffles rammed himself into one of the unsuspecting wolves, knocking it to the ground. When he stood up, the wolf had a couple of bite marks on its neck.  
Taking a few steps back towards Patrick, who was obviously the most vulnerable at the moment, he remarked:  
'You know, we could just climb some trees and hurl abuse at them. / Meow Meeheow.'

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 03, 2008 07:58 AM :

In the cave Jeannie stood still breathing heavily, her fur was covered in blood. She licked some of the blood from around her mouth and looked down at the mangled mess that had been Andre.

Werewolves can recover remarkably from even the most severe of injuries but they generally need their bodies to be in one piece for the healing process to begin. Unfortunately for Andre this was not an option for him. Jeannie had worked hard for many years to suppress the part of her that craved to be a true werewolf, she had developed a superb control over her morphic field and the instincts that lay within, but now all that had been unleashed. All the suppressed desires and instincts had come out in a moment of perfect fury and now the wolf was in control

The human part of Jeannie could only watch the beasts actions and turned away in revulsion.

The wolf that was Jeannie could smell fresh air, it didn't like being inside the cave. it wanted to get out in the open. Padding forward across the blood soaked floor she paused only briefly as two shapes made their way towards the main hall. Delphines mother looked at Jeannie, then over to Andre...then back at the blood covered golden furred Adalwulf infront of her  
Nothing was said out loud, the body language said it all. Jeannies posture said quite clearly that she wouldn't think twice about doing the same to the feral infront of her. Delphines mother thought for a while then assumed a submissive position. Andre had obviously had a great deal to do with the packs actions, maybe now he was gone the feral pack would go back to living the way they had used to. The wolf that was Jeannie, satisfied her authority had been accepted by this strange female, grunted and left the cave. Blinking as she came into the morning sunlight, she sniffed the air then sneezed.

Occasionaly licking the blood from around her jaws she set off into the trees, the werewolf carcasses around her made no impression. For now she was as a wild creature, acting only on instinct....

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 03, 2008 01:18 PM :

Patrick was terrified for Twilight as she jumped on top of the one wolf and very realived when it ran away into the brush.

He had not been expecting Snuffles and was busy forming a rather hasty and weak fireball to hurl at the closest of the remaining ferals.

"Hurl abuse at them? How do you expect me to even get up into the trees in the first place?!"

Patrick loosed the fireball and stepped back as it impacted with the lead wolf. the smell of burning fur and flesh was getting to him. He wasn't good at all this killing.

"Orcakeline! Now's your chance!"

_Hurl abuse? Hurl bl**dy abuse? I'm gonna hurl something alright!_

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 03, 2008 02:41 PM :

Jeannie padded through the trees, stopping occasionally to scratch or when she found an interesting scent. The wolf was thirsty so it followed the smell of water to a small stream, once she had finished drinking she turned to continue her prowl and a familiar powerful scent got her attention. She sniffed the ground. Her human mind, faint but nevertheless still there under the grip of the beast threw up a name to match the scent.

_Jake!_

Perhaps he had passed through here during the skirmish. But the wolf mind didn't care how the scent had got there. Instincts again took over, this male smelt good and the wolf wanted to find him. With her nose close to the ground Jeannie began to follow the scent trail, perhaps it was coincidence or fate that the trail led right through the clearing where Twilight, Patrick, Snuffles and Orcakeline were trying to face down a group of feral wolves

Jeannie emerged from the trees, her fur matted with blood, the golden colour barely visible amongst the claret. She looked around at the scene infront of her, sensed danger and growled...

The only problem was that as loud as her human mind was shouting the wolf wasn't listening. Jeannie knew that she knew the strange group who were fighting the wolves, but the wolf had no concept of friends. Feeling cornered it was ready to pounce on the first thing that threatened it......

[ February 03, 2008, 02:44 PM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 03, 2008 04:15 PM :

Patrick stood in the middle of the trail, the remaining wolves between him and the safety of the inn.

One had already ran from the attack by Twilight, one was down on the ground after Snuffles ambushed it and sadly enough a third was burning away to nothingness right in front of him.

The three still standing were obviously angry and out for blood, but were also being cautious about it. So far, they had been decimated without too much effort; it was possible that today would see the end of the ferals in Uberwald.

Patrick had waited for Orcakeline but she hadn't attacked as planned, so it looked like it would be up to him and Snuffles to finish this.

Out of his peripheral vision, he caught the sight of the dwarf standing off to one side, axe in hand, staring at something behind him.

Chancing a quick look, patrick turned and saw jeannie, still as a wolf just a few feet behind them.

"Oh thank the gods! You made it!"

Returning his focus on the ferals, the wizard prepared to -

Teeth.

Patrick slowly turned around to look at Jeannie; she looked horrible. The blood had discolored her fur and was beginning to dry, the smell noticeable. Her eyes were fixed, ears back and teeth - oh those teeth!

He had seen her as a wolf long enough to know when she was enraged.... and she was. He had not however seen her direct that rage toward toward him.

"Uh...I, uh....", was all the wizard could get out.

_She's looking right at me, but she doesn't see...me._

Gathering his wits about him, Patrick stood absolutley still keeping his hands out in front of him.

"Orcakeline, don't move. Snuffles, same for you. Don't. Anyone. Move."

So there they stood; three ferals on one side and Jeannie on the other. Patrick would rather face the ferals, alone, in the dark, than have to stand up to Jeannie.

_I wonder which of the gods covers weary travellers besieged on the roadside by a pack of wolves. In Uberwald. In the daylight._

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 03, 2008 05:33 PM :

Samson didnt move at her suggestion to leave, he just sat there. She reached down and picked up his pistol bow. Lilah didnt trust Samson, not after the ferals incident and the admission about the client, but she wwas willing to give him the benefit of doubt. Afterall, they had spent many months together. But there was no way he'd convince her to at as bait ever again.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 04, 2008 12:55 AM :

Samson continued to stare at the floor when Lilah took his pistol bow. But as she withdrew Samson heard a noise. He shot up and snatched the bow from Lilah and ran out of the inn while loading the bow with a silver arrow. He zeroed in on the fearls and fired a bolt at one of them, pulled out his silver knife and charged another feral. It noticed him and charged back at him. they met in a screaming, barking, biting, stabbing ball of Human and Wolf.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 04, 2008 03:34 AM :

Lilah was a bit shocked at how quickly Samson had managed to steal the bow off her. He'd never moved likethat before... but she pushed the thought to the back of her mind and followed him, just in time to see him throw himself at one of the ferals.

_Typical. He always jumps in without thinking_

From her vantage point at the top if the inn's steps, Lilah aimed her crossbow at the feral attacking Samson. The others hadnt noticed her, Samson had been a big distraction. Hoping that this at least would slow it down, seeing as she had no silver weapons anymore, she fired at the feral. Unfortunatly she hadnt pictured samson moving to his left, and the arrow grazede his arm. It still hit the feral though. In quick succcession she fired at the other ferals, while screaming out to samson.

"I have no silver! Give me a knife or something!"

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 04, 2008 04:52 AM :

Patrick dropped to the ground as soon as the attack started; he wasn't too keen on getting hit by a stray bolt.

He could see Jeannie tense as if to launch herself into the fray and Patrick did the only thing he could think of.

"Jeannie! Jeannie!"

_Oh hell._

"Sergeant! Sergeant! Can you hear me?"

Without even thinking, the wizard stood up putting himself between Jeannie and the others. She shifted her gaze slightly to look at him and she made eye contact, the blood in his veins ran cold.

"Sergeant! You stand down! Do you hear me? I said stand down RIGHT NOW!"

Patrick stood there, facing the wolf that was now not more than 5 feet away from him. He may have looked like he was standing still, but under all those robes the wizard shook like a leaf.

"Sergeant we need to secure the inn! Sergeant!"

He knew better than to lock eyes with her; that would be seen as a challenge. He did however hope that something in her would remember....

Lowering his voice and taking a knee in front of her he asked once more, "Jeannie. Do you hear me?"

His face was almost right on line with hers. She could be on him before he even saw her flinch.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 04, 2008 08:16 AM :

Her ears flat, her teeth bared, Jeannies eyes flicked from one person to another, the only reason she didn't attack was because the wolf was having trouble deciding on a target. This was soon made much easier when a man put himself right infront of her and began to yell at her, but now the wolf was confused. Prey didn't usually shout at it, and his words were helping the tiny human voice in the wolfs mind to become louder .

The pause as the wolf tried to shake the voice from it's head gave Jeannie a chance to seize back the control she had lost over the beast within. The human part of her rose back through the primal red mist that had descended in the fury that she had held back until Andre had unleashed it

_Secure the inn? Sergeant......yes, I am Sergeant Jeannie. Must get back to the inn. Mina! Alec! Must protect!!_

Jeannies eyes fixed on Patricks and she leapt....straight past him and took down the feral that had been about to attack him. There were only two left now, Samsons bolt took care of one of them and the other ran for it's life before Jeannie could do too much damage, she didn't bother to follow it. The group were left panting, a bit bruised and battered but alive.

Howls could be heard in the trees around them, the group wasted no time in racing back towards the village and the relative safety of the inn....

Jeannies mind raced, she could still taste the beast who had committed such brutality back in the cave. Despite her thick fur she shivered at the thought as she ran alongside Patrick. But at least she hadn't hurt her friends, thank the gods for that! She must thank Patrick when she could speak to him

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 04, 2008 09:33 AM :

The wizard cried out as Jeannie had lept and it took a second or two for him to realize he wasn't dead.

As she finished off the feral that had been coming up behind him, Patrick stood and took in the scene; Samson and Twilight had done a lot of damage and Orcakeline was moving out of the treeline and Snuffles was present and accounted for. Broc and Delphine were somewhere around here, but he'd lost track of them.

He started to run towards the inn only hesitating to give Samson a quick look.

_Death said that Samson had taken the box..but he was here to spring the trap and then returns to help again. What is going on?_

Jeannie caught up to Patrick and together they ran down the trail as howls erupted from the woods on either side of them. The sound was diluted; there weren't as many ferals as there had been just about an hour ago. It almost sounded pitiful.

Reaching the front door of the inn, Patrick saw yet another new face standing there with a bow-pistol in her hand. Not knowing who she was, Patrick grabbed her by the shoulders as he entered, restraining her against the wall.

"Drop the bow before I turn the blood in your body to dust!"

He hoped Jeannie was still there in all her gory glory as Patrick didn't have the strength to summon a good burp right now.

"Two questions! Where is Mina and who the hells are you?"

[ February 04, 2008, 09:44 AM: Message edited by: Thumpy ]

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on February 04, 2008 09:43 AM :

As soon as Mina had been given the oppertunity, she had followed Nova's instructions.  
Screaming, crying and scared, she ran out of the inn, blindly following Nova.

Mina had thought that an adveture would be exciting, but this wasn't. This was scary. And Mina didn't know what to do apart from get the box back. If she had the box she could sort out anything. Mina didn't know where it was. She was helpless.

'Got to find the others!'  
She ran on.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 04, 2008 11:17 AM :

Samson looked up and saw Patrick slam Lilah up against the wall. He wanted to get up, to defend her...but something was seriously wrong. Samson clutched his head and screamed in agony. A voice ripped throug his head.

" _JUST BRING ME THE BOX!!!!_ "

More pain rippled through Samson. He stumbled toward the forrest, then he saw Broc.

Broc was walking towards the inn while reataching his arm. He looked up and saw Samson looking at him.

"Samson! Stop! Patrick, trap him!"

But before anybody could do anything, some kind of black tentacle shot out of the forrest and wrapped itself around Samson, who had enough time to yell out a sentence before being yanked into the Forrest.

"Dad! Save mom!"

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 04, 2008 03:11 PM :

Jeannie stood by Patrick, she drew her lips back and growled in a quiet yet intimidating way.

_Where is Mina?_

she barked, knowing that they wouldn't understand her but it made her feel better to ask anyway. Jeannie also wanted to check on Alec, although she half hoped he was still unconcious. She couldn't face the thought of telling him what had happened back in the cave.

For now though there was no way she was going to leave Patrick unaided so she stayed where she was. The sight of the large and, noticably, blood covered werewolf inches away didn't seem to be lost on the strange woman

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 04, 2008 05:06 PM :

"Hey!" Lilah yelled as she was slammed into the wall unexpectedly. The look on Samsons face as she'd been grabbed had thrown her for a second, it was a look of utter helplessness. Then she heard her attackers threat. "Oh a wizard..." she sniggered, but didnt drop the bow. "No clue who Mina is. I assume the little girl who ran out of here earlier? And as for me..." she noticed the wolf standing near the wizard. It wasnt one of the ferals, but it was a werewolf. _Interesting_  
"look can you let go of me? Im not a threat to either of you." She grinned at the wolf. "No Silver, y'see." They didnt, and she sighed.

"I was hired to help sort out the ferals issue out here. My partner and i managed to dispose of a fair few, but then got separated. That was him. Outside. But then he dissappeared, and i KNOW he's going to do something stupid. Now can you let go so i can go after him?"

*edited for spelling*

[ February 04, 2008, 05:13 PM: Message edited by: adie ]

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on February 04, 2008 05:11 PM :

Nova skidded to a halt when he saw the black tentacle, almost tripping Mina as he halted her. He watched horrified as it dragged the screaming Samson into the forest, but luckily it was too far away to notice Nova and Mina.

He turned to the girl to redirect her when he found that she was crying. He stopped and hesitated, nervously. Nova wasn't quite sure what to do when a little human girl was crying. When Twilight was little he'd always give her a fish or something, and he was sure that the last thing Mina would want at a time like this was a cold tuna.

_"Er,"_ he said, _"Nice..er..girl_" He froze when he heard the low hum of a distant growl, which wasn't the most comforting thought right now, but then Nova realized that it was joined in by a hiss. He matched the sound as his mind threw up a card. Twilight! Thankfully the two didn't sound like they were directed at each other, so it must be one of her werewolf friends.

_"Mina, come one, this way,"_ Nova led the girl in the direction of the hiss and growl. Soon they arrived back at the front of the inn, where the group was found

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on February 04, 2008 05:40 PM :

Annie had stopped fighting by now. She sat leaning on the back wall of the inn. Most wolves were busy fighting other people, and any other wolves kept a good distance away from Annie. She read and re-read her parents' letter, growing angry at them and at everyone. Every now and then she looked up to see a wolf coming towards her and she would growl quietly, the way that she had heard them growl. Her growling scared the innocent side of her, and her glare scared anyone who looked at her.

She looked down at her arm and saw more blood than she had expected was there. She assumed for a second that it came off the dagger, but she wiped some of it away to see very clear bitemarks. Her arm had hurt for a while, but she hadn't looked at it. She felt slightly shocked at the amount of blood and wondered how she could have not noticed something like that. But for some reason she went back to reading without a second thought to the injury. When darkness blocked out the page she wondered if her candle had gone out. Feeling quite weak, she called for help.

The wolves were watching as she shouted, then closed her eyes and fainted. They came over with unusual caution, and began licking the blood off the arm that had been bitten. Her call for help had been quite loud, and the group went quiet when they heard it.

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 05, 2008 05:34 AM :

There was so much activity and shouting going on, but Patrick was focused entirely on the woman in front of him. The wizard had a problem with tunnel vision - a troll army could walk up on him right now and he'd never notice.

"She ran out the door?"

Letting go, he turned and ran to the front door, just in time to see Mina being brought back by the other cat that Twilight knew.

"Mina!"

Racing to her, the wizard scooped her up in his arms and hugged her tightly, immediately bringing her back into the inn and the warmth and safety it offered.

She was crying. Patrick cursed himself for leaving her alone. Well, not alone - she had been with friends, but it was his responsibility to look after her and he'd left.

Trying to dry her tears, Patrick looked for any obvious signs of wounds and found nothing except a small bite on the hand. It wasn't a wolf bite, so that was something to be thankful for.

"Mina, I am sorry! I am so very sorry little one. It was wrong of me to leave like that; it won't happen again. You're safe. You're safe."

Holding on to Mina and trying to keep his voice even so as not to scare her, the wizard turned to face the woman he had grabbed.

"I don't know you. I don't know where you come from. But I do know your so called _partner_ . He's been playing each side against the other. He has a habit of helping and then turning on those he helped. He has taken something very important. Something very dangerous."

Patrick felt a chill come over him.

"If we don't get back what he took, if it ends up in the wrong hands - your worst nightmare, the thing that makes you wake up screaming in the night will seem like a quiet summer afternoon compared to what will happen."

Patrick was about to take Mina over to the fireplace when he stopped; he looked toward Jeannie and Broc and saw that they had heard the cry for help. It wasn't Samson - this had been a female voice.

"Who are we missing now?"

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 05, 2008 08:09 AM :

The wizard let go of Lilah, and bolted out the door. Lilah stepped away from the wall, and attempted to straighten the dress she was wearing. Not that there was really any point. It had been a nice dress, perfect for acting as bait in, but now it was ripped to shreds fom the fight with the ferals and her subsequent escape. She longed for something clean, and a bath. But it didnt look like that was going to happen anytime soon.

She went to leave, but then the wizard was back, with the girl in his arms. Must be mina.

"Oh he's stolen it already!" Thoughts troubled her. _If he's stolen it, why'd he come back? Whatever it was, its what the Client no... _"You did something to it, didnt you. IF thats the case, you've bigger problems than him."

A cry for help from outside distracted the group, so Lilah bolted. No point hanging around, they wwerent going to trust her and she couldnt bother trying to convince them to. But as she ran out, she saw the zombie. He looked like samson. And he seemed very worried. She kept going, though. It wasnt her mess.

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on February 05, 2008 12:06 PM :

Orcakeline was quite relieved after Jeannie regained her self-control.  
The dwarf went after looked through all her pockets and found a piece of sure knew she kept taking candies at home and hiding them in her luckily she found a chocolate bar in her blue skirt.

"Patrick,this chocolate bar here is quite very give you Mina would need to regain some anybody are a wizard after all,I say you see if it's still an eatable energizer and give everyone a bite so they get more could come from anywhere again.I'm going too see if there's anymore wolf meat to cook!"

Orcakeline went outside and killed the last living heard the scream and looked around.  
_My,I'm getting old.I can't even see the the thing that screamed_

[ February 05, 2008, 12:07 PM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 05, 2008 01:28 PM :

Jeannie felt both huge relief and terible concern when Patrick ran back inside holding the terrified Mina. Although she was relieved that the little girl was alive she found her heart strings tugged at the sound of the child sobbing. Jeannie deliberatly stayed back so as not to alarm Mina any further, although Mina had seen her as a wolf before Jeannie was concerned that the gorey appearance of her blood covered and wounded canine body would be a bit too much for the little girl right now.

So Jeannie made ready to slink upstairs with the intention of changing then having a really good wash before going to see the condition of the injured Alec. Before she even had the chance to move away from the fireplace there was a shrill scream from what sounded like the back of the building. Jeannie looked at Patrick, he should stay here with Mina. The child needed the warmth and comfort of a caring guardian right now. So that left only one choice

_*Sigh* not again...._

Wearily Jeannie got up and padded towards the door, Lilah ran past her but Jeannie was too concerned about the scream to wonder about where she was going. Cautiously Jeannie made her way to the back of the building and found three feral wolves surrounding Annie. Jeannie snarled and approached in the most menacing way she could muster.

_You smell this blood? This is the blood of Andre, your leader. I left him in pieces...want to share his fate?_

Two of them took one look at the horror that was approaching them and ran straight away but the third who was larger than the other two and obviously fancied his chances as a fighter. There was a brief struggle, Jeannie ended up with a couple more bite marks to add the the others and the large feral wolf ran off with his tail between his legs. Trying to take no notice of the fresh blood on the girls arm Jeannie examined Annie taking careful note of the bite mark. It looked like a werewolf bite, this was bad news.....very very bad.

Thankfully Broc had followed Jeannie out to the alley and he now picked up the girl and took her back inside. Jeannie followed and went straight upstairs. She had to get the blood off.......

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 05, 2008 04:04 PM :

Broc laid the girl on the bar and asked for the bartender to bring him some rags and a bottle of drink. He set to cleaning and bandaging the wounds.

Meanwhile...

Samson was slammed against a tree. He coughed up even more blood and the voice screamed through his head again.

" _HOW COULD YOU NOT KILL THE GIRL!_ "

Samson coughed again then shrugged.

" _Fine. Just give me the Box, and your mother will live,_ "

Samson struggled to his feet theaticly patted his pockets and shrugged.

"Must have dropped it"

The Client screamed and launched it self at Samson, who just hoped Patrick would check on of his infinate pockets soon.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 05, 2008 05:16 PM :

Lilah stopped a fair distance from the inn, and sat down, leaning against a tree. The urge to sleep was overwhelming, but this was hardly the time. She checked what was left of her arrows - not nearly enough. _damnit_ She still hadnt managed to find a decent knife or sword either. Then three ferals ran past, stopped, and came back to her. She recognised one of them, it was missing half its ear. She couldnt remember what she'd done with the other half.

"Go away"

They moved in closer and she sighed, then attacked. She may not have had any silver, buit aa crossbow bolt at close range would leave them hurting for a while.

Now the urge to sleep was really upon her, and she stumbled back to the inn. While the others were distracted by the girl bleeding all over teh bar, she snuck in and let herself into one of the rooms. After barracading the door, she fell asleep on the bed.

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on February 05, 2008 05:17 PM :

Mina sobbed as the wizard carried her into the inn. 'He tried to shoot me wiv his arrowwwwwwwwwww......' Mina resumed her crying again until she was interrupted by the scream for help. Then she was silent, still and terrified again.

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on February 05, 2008 05:36 PM :

Twilight sighed with immense relief when she saw that Nova had gotten Mina away safely, until she noticed that the girl was crying. She turned a look onto Nova

_"What did you?"_ she said, bitterly. Her brother instinctively took a step backwards, in shock.

_"What? Er..I didn't do anything,_" he said, defensively, _"She was like this when I got her here"_ Twilight rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the small girl in Patrick's arms. Shifting into her human form, she straightened out her dress and walked up to the wizard.

"Here, I'll take her," she said. She took the small girl from the wizard's arms and sat down with her in a chair in front of the fireplace

"Don't worry, Mina," she said, softly, "All of the bad wolves are gone. You're safe now" Twilight held the girl close as she rocked back and forth.

"You know," she said, "If you want, I bet Nova would be more than happy to do some magic for you"

[ February 05, 2008, 05:38 PM: Message edited by: Blazing Moon ]

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on February 05, 2008 05:49 PM :

Annie, with some effort, opened her eyes. She still couldn't move. She felt stinging and slight pain, and guessed that since there were people around her that someone must have been trying to help her. The most overwhelming thought in her mind was that there was blood. She could smell the blood, and even that worried her a bit. She didn't remember ever noticing what blood smelled like before. She stared at all the people around her, then closed her eyes again so that she could return to sleep.

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on February 05, 2008 07:18 PM :

Orcakeline saw the scene in which Lilah kicked the werewolf,so the dwarf followed the ferlas and killed them.

Somewhere in the woods she heard another slight short was more of a cry.  
Orcakeline went towards the source and looked through the saw Samson and another creature torturing him.

The dwarf was afraid the creature could sense her.  
And she was creature heard her breathe and felt her heart was terrified.  
She decided not too run for the might make the creature follow her and endanger the others.  
She was harmless could she do?Samson was being tortured,the creature was getting to her and she could not move.

_Let this not be me end,Gods!_

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 06, 2008 03:43 AM :

The nightmares came almost immediatly. They'd not been this bad in years, and Lilah awoke after almost no time at all. The little amount of sleep was better than nothing. Time to go find Samson. She glanced around the room, hoping to find weapons, then noticed the body in the corner. he looked like someone she'd had a run in with before. She noticed his sword right away, and a quick search of the body revealed a few more daggers, one of which was silver. Exiting through the window, she left her crossbow behind, as it was now useless, as she had no arrows left.

Lilah headed back out into the forest, this time following the tracks Samson had left. It would have looked odd to anyone watching, as she was constantly stopping to examine the ground, twigs and random bushes. His trail grew cold very quilcky, but starting from there was signs that...something....had been through here. It looked like a snakes trail, but it was huge.

This trail led further into the forest. As she got closer, she noticed several guards closing in on a trembling dwarf. Up in the distance, she also saw samson. HE looked terrible.

A few minutes work disposed of the guards, and then joined the dwarf, who seemed to be praying. She had the look about her of someone who wanted to do something, but didnt know what. The dwarf jumped when she realised Lilah was there.

"If you want to help him, go back to the inn and tell the group there that if they want what was stolen from them to come here now." she smiled, but it didnt reach her eyes. "i think they'll help, even if only to kill him themselves. now GO!"

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on February 06, 2008 07:52 AM :

"Oo..oo...oook!!" whispered Orcakeline.  
And she ran for Axe was just about to fly into the sky,but she crouched and rand like a real dwarf-warrior.  
She got to the inn fast and entered the room where Patrick was still standing.  
"Guys!Lilah,the girl you found near the inn found Samson in the woods where I accidentally was a creature torturing said that all of us should go there to recover the on!"

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 06, 2008 09:05 AM :

Jeannie stood staring at her relflection in the small cracked mirror that hung on the wall of the inn's bedroom. She was human shaped now, and clean. It had taken several jugs of water but she had managed to remove the blood. Her long hair was sti8ll wet and had made a damp patch on her shirt as it fell down her back.

Jeannie was stalling for time, but there was nothing else for it. She slowly opened her door and walked to the room where Alec lay. She was half hoping he would still be unconcious so she didn;t have to face the awful thought of telling him that she had killed his brother. She knocked on the door out of habit but entered anyway.

Alec lay still on the bed, he was healing well already she could see that. The werewolf blood was repairing the wounds at a supernatural rate. She sat down gently on the bed next to him and spoke softly

"Alec?"

There was not response, she tried to shake him gently and spoke again a little louder

"Alec, Can you hear me?"

Nothing. She sat for a while then got up to leave. She was stopped in her tracks by ALecs voice.

"Y'know, it's customary to kiss the wounded before leaving their bedside"

Jeannie face broke into a grin but before turning round she fixed her expression into one of seriousness.

"You were pretending to be asleep!? How long have you been awake for!?"

He just grinned at her and sat up, his blue eyes twinkled and he winked. The smile Jeannie was tryig to hide broke through and she walked back over to him. After giving him a playful punch on the arm as a reprimand she sat next to him

"I'm glad you're okay Alec. You had me really worried you know"

The look he gave her in return was full of tenderness, he took her hand

"I'm sorry you were woried, but I'm fine. I woke up a little while ago, almost as good as new already."

Jeannie bit her lip, took a deep breath and decided to just blurt out the confession that was eating her up inside

"Alec, I........"

He interupted before she could continue

"I know Jeannie. I heard the howls. He deserved it, he was disturbed in his head. Theres no hope for an insane werewolf.....I know you had no choice and I'm glad it was you who did it....thankyou"

Jeannie closed her eyes, the last word Alec had said cut her deep. It stung her heart. Jeannie was repulsed by the memory of the murder but Alec had _thanked_ her for it.  
He took her chin in his hand and turned her face towards his, his vivd blue eyes held hers and in that moment there was a deeper understanding exchanged between the two of them than a million words could have achieved

The sound of Orcakeline yelling was loud and clear, the spell between Alec and Jeannie was broken and they both stood up.

"Ah well, guess the actions not over yet!" said Alec as he held the door open for Jeannie and then followed her down to the bar room where the others were gathered....

[ February 06, 2008, 04:48 PM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on February 06, 2008 01:42 PM :

Annie woke up again, and this time she was able to get up. She sat up quickly and looked around her, noticing a lot of noise and commotion. Something must have happened again. "Hi. Just out of interest, what happened to me? I remember blood and wolves but apart from that I'm really confused," she asked the person nearest to her. She smiled happily as she asked it, relieved to be back to her nicer self. She still felt strange though. It was as if something had changed while she was unconscious. She looked at the person she had talked to, and waited for an answer.

[ February 06, 2008, 01:45 PM: Message edited by: AniloracTeatime ]

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 06, 2008 01:51 PM :

Broc helped Annie up. He gave her a small smile and answered her question.

"not much looks like it changed about you, but there is some bad news. That could change. They bit you." Broc saw The dwarf run in and scream something about the box. Broc ran up the stairs and gathered everybody

Meanwhile....

Samson was slammed against the tree and slashed again. He was a bloody mess. Then he caught a glance of Lilah. That was what hed been holding on for. Samson closed his eyes, felt another stinging slash, then...nothing

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on February 06, 2008 01:57 PM :

"That could change." Annie thought about what Broc had said as he went away. She didn't actually feel very worried by that. She didn't much like who she was now anyway.

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 06, 2008 02:00 PM :

Patrick stood by Twilight as she sat in the chair with Mina. He was drained, physically, mentally and now emotionally. He held back his own tears so as not to show weakness and inwardly tried to steady himself.

_You haven't had a whole lot of rest since we left the city. Your magic has been used more in the last three days than in the last year and....._

He thought about the wolves he had killed today; the ones he had directly fought off and the ones the left to die slowly in the now sealed caves of the mountain.

He wanted to go home. As soon as this mission was over, he would. He couldn't stand the idea of going back to the University now anyway.

The wizard had just allowed himself to take a seat near the fireplace when Orcakeline ran in and told them what she had seen.

Patrick looked down at the floor and said softly, "I'm not going. I'm staying here where I should be."

Besides, Samson was the one that had.....

"Leave him," Patrick said, still keeping his eyes down.

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on February 06, 2008 05:22 PM :

Annie looked around the room, wondering how to make herself useful. She smiled at Patrick, hoping to cheer him up. He looked quite unhappy. She went over to Orcakeline. "I'm not sure what's going on but I want to help," Annie said, taking her bag off her shoulder and looking inside it to see that everything was still there. Seeing that nothing was missing, she looked up at Orckaeline, ready for whatever she was told to do. To her surprise, her arm had stopped hurting.

[ February 06, 2008, 05:26 PM: Message edited by: AniloracTeatime ]

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 06, 2008 05:23 PM :

Lilah glanced back, wondering where the others were. Maybe she'd been wrong about them. She was sure they would have come to help, as least long enough to find out who had what Samson had stolen.

She saw Samson get slammed up against another tree by the Client, and caught his eyes for a second. Pleading. She considerd leaving him there a bit longer, maybe tehn he'd understand what she'd been through these past few weeks, but decided against it. This wasnt the time for petty payback.

_This better not get me killed._

She snuck closer to where Samson was, and saw him get slashed at again. The Cllient moved around for another go, and as he came to meet Samson she swung at him with her sword, servering his head. The body and the head vanished, and then a tentacle thing came flying through the trees, straight at them.

_oh crap...of COURSE is wasnt going to be that easy..._

She looked down at Samson, who was laying on the ground. "You'll live. For now." Lilah wasnt entirely unkind in her tone, she was actually worried about him. "The time to lay around being hurt isnt now". She ducked as the tentacle came at her, and it soared harmlessly over her head. "Now get up and help me."

Whatever the tentacle was a part of was nearby, watching. She just couldnt see where. But unless the tentacle had eyes of its own, they were being watched.

[ February 06, 2008, 05:30 PM: Message edited by: adie ]

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 07, 2008 11:15 AM :

Samson Struggled to get up but he was just to battered and bruised. He reached for his pack and pulled it towards him. Reaching in he pulled out a small hand sized orb. inside somthing orange swirled. He twisted the top of the orb slightly and the orange 'stuff' swirled faster.

"Lilah. Tell Patrick to look in his pockets for the Box, now run! RUN!!!

30 seconds later the resulting explosion blew out the windows of the inn.

Posted by **Max aka Helicopterpassoverhead** (Member # 3874) on February 07, 2008 04:56 PM :

Snuffles was thrown to the ground by the unexpected explosion. Standing up, he checked his fur for burns. Then he checked himself for injuries.  
'Why can't we just get a good nights sleep and return the damn thing the following day?! / *spit* *spit*' he murmured, wearily. 'Good day's sleep, i mean.' he corrected himself, embarrassed.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 07, 2008 05:32 PM :

Lilah didnt know what the swirly orange thing was, but it looked bad. Samson wasnt one to use anything magical, but here he was with something suspiciously so. This was not going to be good.

She bolted back to the Inn, but was thrown to the ground by the force of an explosion.

"SAMSON! she squealed, realising what had happened, and let out a sob. There was no way he could have survived that. He could barely move, how could he have gotten away in time?

She stood up, and kept going back to teh inn. How DARE they not help. Anger replaced sadness. She stormed into the inn, ignored teh giant cat looking hurt, and went straight up to the wizard.

"You should have come helped!" she screamed "He's dead now, that explosion was him! He was being tortured, because he HADNT handed over what he allegedly 'stole' from you. What did you have against him? Why jsut let that happen?" She realised she was crying, and hadnt stopped since the explosion.

She saw Mina trying to hide herself in the wizards arms, so she tried to calm down.

"Check your pockets. Was the last thing Samson said before he blew himself up."

[ February 07, 2008, 05:37 PM: Message edited by: adie ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 09, 2008 02:35 PM :

When Lilah had stormed over to Patrick, Alec had moved to intervene but Jeannie grabbed his arm and silently shook her head. A tongue lashing wasn't going to hurt anyone and Patrick was more than capable of dealing with the angry young woman...well, as capable as any man was of dealing with an irate female.

Having decided that Patrick could, probably, survive given that hundreds of men managed to live through similar encounters , Jeannie simply waited. The news about Samson was surprising, Jeannie nodded grimly and pulled Alec further back. Whispering as low as she could manage she dragged him towards the bar

"Listen carefully to me, I won't have time to repeat all this..."

He nodded in hurried agreement, Jeannie continued

"...The young girl, Annie, she's been bitten by the ferals. The effects are already starting, I can smell the change in her. Whats left of the feral pack are retreating but I can sense something strange...almost alien...out in the wilderness. Once we've located the box we are going to have to get the hells out of here in double quick time...."

In a gesture most unusual for Jeannie she grabbed his hand and held it tight

"I don't want to leave this time! But I have to!"

Alec said nothing, his eyes completely serious for a change. He looked at her for what seemed an eternity before he opened his mouth to speak

"Before he died from his injuries my father told me what happened, why you left. Please sit down Jeannie there are a few things I want to say whilst we have a few precious moments"......

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 11, 2008 11:51 AM :

Broc fell to his knees.

"my...son...is...dead."

Broc was silent for a few seconds, then let out an anquish yell.

in the forrest, something moved.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 11, 2008 01:31 PM :

Jeannie had found a quiet small table on the other side of the room. She sat with her back to the wall and watched the others, Patricks was indeed checking his robes. A process that was taking quite a while, probably due to the anomalous recesses a wizards robes were rumored to contain.

The figure of Alec blocked her view as he sat down opposite and placed two beers on the table. He sat in silence, just looking down at the table, his chin resting on his hand. Jeannie simply sat and waited, she didn't want to have this impending conversation and was certainly not going to start it off. Finally there was the faint sound as Alec drew breath to begin speaking, as he did he looked up and his eyes fixed on hers. Before anything was said though there was a shout from the group at the other side of the room and Patrick could be seen holding something with a relieved look on his face

"They've found the Box" she whispered and breathed with relief....

[ February 11, 2008, 01:33 PM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on February 11, 2008 02:09 PM :

Orcakeline heard the was dreadful!No!It was awful!

She went into the kitchen and took loaf of bread with a few other things that were the dwarf walked towards Broc .

"Here,eat somethin'.It might be useful.I'm sure Samson is OK!I promise you he's fine.I'm taking something to eat and going out too look for ' cares to join?"

Without waiting an answer Orcakeline took a potato ,washed it,took some salt and bread and ate she took her dwarfish bread and her axe and ran through the heard many movements and a small rushed forwards,but cautiously,so as not to be heard...

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on February 11, 2008 06:34 PM :

Annie felt strange. Normally she would have ignored it but with all the talk of her changing she rushed to her room so that nobody would see her if anything happened. When she got to the room she felt a weird surge of energy inside her, but it felt as if she was being hurt. She fell down onto the floor, now scared. She had expected this to be painless, a quick thing that was over in a few seconds. She closed her eyes and when she opened them the world seemed a different place. She looked down at what now were her paws. She felt happier now than when she was her normal self.  
"I could get used to this," she thought to herself. Once she was finished getting used to walking around and everything, she decided to go out to see what exactly was going on with the commotion about an explosion. She closed her eyes again and concentrated as hard as she could on being human. She stood up slowly as the thought about it and was back to her normal self when she opened her eyes. She put back on her clothes which had fallen onto the floor when she changed. Then she walked out of her room back into the room where everyone else was as if nothing had happened.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 12, 2008 03:37 AM :

"See. You had it, not him." Lilah wiped away some of her tears, but they kept coming. "Now destroy it. The..'man' that wants it will do anything to get it, and then more will die."

Lilah couldnt control herself any longer, especially after hearing the cries of Samsons father, and bolted outside. She collapsed on the front step, sobbing. _Of all the stupid things...._ Lilah barely even noticed the eternally optimistic dwarf run past her.

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 12, 2008 05:23 AM :

Patrick had a brief moment of relief when he found the box still inside the pocket of his robes. He was glad that they still had control over it, that Mina hadn't been hurt....

Then he realized what had happened to Samson and his own last words, 'Leave him.'

The wizard sat down and held the box in his hands looking at it with a mix of fear and hatred.

"We can't destroy it. If it was that simple they could have done it back at the University. It must be returned to the gods."

Patrick thought about Samson and couldn't figure out what he had been trying to do.

"Samson should have...I don't know, told someone what he was planning. He could have told me what he was expected to do - maybe we could have helped him...."

The wizard tried to rationalize his decidion to stay at the inn and not run out to help Samson at the end.

The day had been too much so far, and it had barely started. The battle with the ferals had been more intense than he had figured it would be.

"What about the ferals? Did we do enough damage to them or do you think they still pose a threat?"

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on February 12, 2008 04:43 PM :

When she came out of her room Annie saw the box and people looking at it. She had a feeling that some of the people in the room were unhappy, which made sense when she heard the whispers about Samson. She walked over to Jeannie and hoped that she wouldn't be interrupting anything important. She knew that Jeannie hadn't liked her much at the start and she didn't think that had changed much.

"Umm, Jeannie... i want to talk to you. I want t know what's going to happen. I want to know what I should do. Please," Annie said, looking down and speaking as politely as she could.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 12, 2008 06:20 PM :

Broc took a deep breath and watched Samson's old partner run out. He followed her and found her on her knees sobbing. Gently he lifted her and brought her back inside and sat her at a table. Sitting next to her he wrapped an arm around her and said

"You must have liked samson alot to be crying so much. tell me, how was he before all this went down"

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 13, 2008 07:35 AM :

Jeannie sat where she was and watched the reactions to Samsons death. She could see Patrick trying to rationalise his decision to stay here and understood it. She hadn't rushed out to save the mercenary either

A gentle cough from Alec brought her attention back to the moment, she smiled and reached out to take his hand

"Sorry, got distracted there. Look, Alec I......."

They were interrupted by Annie, but Jeannies annoyance at this quickly turned to pity for the girl when she saw the look on Annies face. Jeannie had been born a werewolf, it was in her nature and she had always had to deal with the instincts, hungers and changes that came with the lupine curse. Annie was going to have to adjust to all of it. Once bitten there was no going back, Annie was going to be changed for ever. Jeannie expression softened and she spoke gently

"Sit down Annie."

The girl sat down on the available wooden seat that was next to Jeannie, Jeannie continued

"You have been bitten by a werewolf, that means you are becoming a werewolf. As far as I know there is no cure for this, you must learn to adapt and to embrace your new form. There is no point in denying it, it is what you are now" Jeannie paused to allow this to sink in then spoke once more

"You may become a 'full' werewolf...this means you can change into a wolf. Or you may only become a 'lesser' werewolf which means you will become a sort of hybrid when in your wolf form. You will have features of both human and wolf at the same do you understand?"

Jeannie paused and wondered if she was being a little too direct, but then reminded herself that the girl needed to know the truth about what was happening if she was to be able to deal with it so Jeannie carried on

"You will have new instincts and urges. Blood will take on a whole new problem for you, the blood lust can be controlled but it's not easy. The Full Moon will dominate your life each month, no werewolf can stop the lunar morphication. You will notice your senses becoming acute and your body will become stronger....."

She paused again, an idea was forming in her mind. The girl couldn't just be left to deal with this on her own, not here in Uberwald the home of the werewolf.

"Listen Annie, why don't you come along with us when we leave here? I can help you to learn your new form"

There she had said it, it may be a good idea or a very bad one but it was done now.

[ February 13, 2008, 07:45 AM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on February 13, 2008 08:34 AM :

Annie listened attentively, and when Jeannie suggested her coming with them, a huge smile came onto Annie's face. "That would be brilliant! I hope I won't be any trouble." She went away, supressing her smile as much as she could so as not to annoy anyone in the room who was still unhappy.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 13, 2008 08:44 AM :

Lilah felt someone help her to her feet, and take her back inside. It was Samsons father.

"Samsons all i had, really" she said, in response to his question. "Its very hard to get close to anyone with what i do for a living. But he was fun to have around, always..." she thought of the incident with the ferals "...well mostly - had my back in a fight, and great at waht he did. We're one of the best teams in the business. Bit hot headed tho, tends...tended to jump into situations without thinking."

Lilah sighed, and started fiddling with a torn part of the skirt of her dress. "Its hard to explain why im so upset. Its just a feeling. I dont know how much contact you've had with him, because he never mentioned having known you before we came here, but he's not the conniving backstabbing bastard he's been these past few weeks."

They sat in silence for a few minutes. " I want to kill The Client. He's a manipulator, and i want to know what he was holding over Samson. Its the only way he'd ever work for him. Hurting innocents and those he cared about was never like him."

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 13, 2008 09:08 AM :

Jeannie watched in silent thought as Annie walked away. The voice of Alex cut through her thoughts

"Do you thinks that's a good idea? letting her travel with you? The change can affect people in different ways, she could become unpredictable"

Jeanie simply shrugged

"I don't know...what I _do_ know is that it's a better idea than leaving her here to cope on her own"

Knowing that the dreaded conversation, although interrupted, was still going to take place Jeannie sighed. She took a swig of the beer that sat so invitingly infront of her and looking deliberatly at the tankard and not at Alec she spoke quickly

"I know what you wanted to say, if you father told you the truth then you know the real reason I left you. I won't apologise, I had no choice. It was the only way to save your life"

There was a long moment of silence between them, Alec nodded almost imperceptably and leant forward. He reached out and gently raised Jeannies face so he could look directly at her. She realised he was trembling

"I know Jeannie, he told me everything. You family would have killed me rather than allow a union between one of them and a yennork, you left to spare me that fate....that must have been very hard for you to do?"

The pleading in his eyes was heartbreaking, blinking back tears Jeannie replied hoarsely

"Of course it was hard! It broke my heart! But I had to do it, they _would_ have killed you...."

Alec interrupted

"It's alright Jeannie, I wrote to you as soon as he told me. Did you ever finish reading that letter?"

Jeannie shook her head, confused

"No, everything happened so quickly...it's still in my pack"

He nodded and smiled sadly "Please read it before you leave"

And without another word he got up and walked away, his footfalls on the hollow wooden stairs echoed around the room as he went upstairs leaving Jeannie sat deep in a emotional trip down memory lane.....after a few moments she shook herself and stood up.

Walking quickly over to the others she summoned her air of authority, this was more to keep her mind from wandering into dangerously emotional thoughts, she looked around at the group. The morning sun shone through the grubby windows of the inn but the daylight didn't reduce the feeling of danger emanating from the forest

"We have the box, we have seriously reduced the threat of the Feral wolves. It's time to pack up and move on, the sooner this box gets back to it's owners the happier I'll be. I suggest everyone has a good meal and gets their things ready. I want the coach ready to go this afternoon"

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 13, 2008 09:17 AM :

(((Jeannie congrats on 2000 posts!)))

"I'm helping" Lilah said, when she heard the comment about returning the box. "Whether you want me to or not. Its the reason i lost the only person i care about. You cant stop me."

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 13, 2008 01:47 PM :

((Yay Jeannie!))

Patrick was relieved that someone had taken charge and given them all something to focus on. He was still feeling rotten about his decision and Samson.

Walking toward Broc and Lilah, the wizard felt worse about this than anything else he'd done in a very long time.

"I, uh....."

Not able to bring himself to look either of them in the eye, Patrick stood there half expecting to be run through any second.

"I'm sorry. I should have paid more attention to what was going on. I should have helped him."

Not knowing what else he could say, Patrick turned back toward the others and took Mina by the hand. As they walked upstairs he tried to summon a smile as a means of reassuring her that everything was going to be okay.

"It's time for us to pack up again my little witch. Time to get moving and add another chapter to our adventure. After we gather our things we'll have some breakfast and leave this place behind."

Realizing that he had been deficient in his duties, the wizard promised his apprentice that before the end of that day he would teach her about the elementals and their many uses.

"Just don't ever let one get away from you - the little things are more mischievious than you know."

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on February 13, 2008 01:52 PM :

Orcakeline looked through the forest half an hour or kept hearing sounds and dwarf had no idea what that forest was still holding searched,she smashed things that were useless and she called Samson's didn't loose her hope,but she knew that if she wouldn't get to the inn faster the group would leave without was frightened at _that_ thought so she started running towards the half the distance from the inn to the forest another feral got in her way.

"What'd you want,now?I've got an axe,a piece of dwarfish you want to die soooooo much?Disappear or I'll kill !I'm counting to ...one and a half" the feral stood there"two,two and a half,two three-quarters,MOVE NOW AND SAVE YOURSELF OR FEEL MY MOTHERS BREAD ON YOUR BACK!!!!"And as calmly as she could she said..."Three."

The werewolf took a step back,but it sure didn't want to was wrong with that particular wolf.

"What do you want?Go away.I will kill you!Oh,come on!Are you _that_ stupid?"  
Orcakeline raised her axe over the feral's still didn't was half the way to the ferals head when it made a bad attempt to bite dwarf was kicked the feral with the piece of bread.  
Grrrr,went the werewolf.(That actually meant "You bastard!" )  
Orcakeline saw the werewolf wouldn't even yell or say something in his defense so she smashed it's a piece of bread on its didn't even feel that.

"Oh ,mighty is this thing?A robot it sure ain' is..well..WEIRD!"  
The dwarf kicked and smashed the it sure didn't feel a ,maybe a bit of a scratch the wolf had why did it not move?

The dwarfs face if the Box had gave the werewolf so much knew shouting would be a mistake in this she kicked again and smashed,and kicked and smashed,and the werewolf stood looked like in a shouted Lilah's name quietly,not as a crazy yell,hoping the others would come sure was the creature that got Samson.

"You little thing!You're not getting !!!!!!!!!!Come here!Jeannie!Everyone!!!!I've got the creature that tortured Samson!!!Heeeeey!Guuuuuuys!!! "

The dwarf no saw the werewolf made a small attempt to move,but Orcakeline was kicked him one trying to kill it will kill it in the end.

_Oh,come on,guys!This is not easy!This one is a horrible werewolf!_ thought the dwarf.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 13, 2008 04:45 PM :

Broc looked up sharply when he heard the dwarfs cry. He stepped outside and saw the wolf.

"HEY!"

The wolf looked at Broc for a second then burst into a withering mass of black tentacles. They reformed into a human in a black robe. when it spoke, it spoke in a booming voice that could be heard for miles.

" _For the People caring the box. If you bring it to me i will grant your wishes. Like you Patrick, i will make it able for you to go back home...peacefully. Jeannie, i will make peace between the Auldwolfs and the Uberwalds. And you Annie, I will finally so your parents why they should be proud. But continue on your foolish journey and i will destroy all of you and your loved ones_ "

and with that the Robed figure morphed back into tentacles and shot into the forest

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 13, 2008 05:08 PM :

Jeannie stood in shock at the bizarre appearance of the creature and shuddered, it seemed to know entirely too much about them and that made her uncomfortable. It's promises of granting their wishes had no effect on Jeannies ever suspicious soul, in her experience if something seemed to good to be true then it probably was.

_So, it wants the Box?Well, it can have it....over my dead body!_

Her face set into a grim determined expression. She could hear some of her family still out in the woods, she knew she would need to go and speak with them before she left but Alecs last sentence was preying on her mind. With a reiteration to the others to get packed up and ready Jeannie went upstairs to her room. She closed the door and walked over to the small, uncomfortable bed. She pulled her leather pack out from under the bed and rummaged around inside until her hand closed around the crumpled enevelope, the paper crinkled as she pulled the letter out.

Her face froze as she read the last page of the letter, she re-read it a few times then carefully put it back into her pack. Now completely over loaded with far too many emotions Jeannie slid soundlessly out of her window onto the street and ducked into the shadows. The wolf that was Jeannie emerged and ran towards the trees making sure to stay well away from the strange feeling that the creature emanated . Having located her family there was a brief exchange and the packs retreated having done their part in protecting the group. There had been losses during the fight and neither family was prepared to sacrifice any more

At the mention of losses a dire thought had crawled its icy way to the fore of Jeannies mind.....she hadn't seen Jake since the fight. Had he been one of the losses? A cold shiver ran down her back, she thought about sending out a howl for him, but decided against it. She would rather live in hope that he was alive and well.

Jeannie ran back to the inn and was soon stood fully dressed and human shaped in her room. She could smell a delicious smell coming from the kitchens and decided that things would look better after a good meal so she went downstairs to investigate what was on offer for breakfast

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on February 13, 2008 06:47 PM :

From inside the kitchen came the sound of a muffled female voice.

"Now listen, you, she is a growing girl, and I want to make sure you are providing her with a healthy breakfast! So, that means, none of that thick yellow slop, and that purple stuff over there looks like it's either got something alive in it, or it _is_ alive! She is entirely too young to be exposed to any of your foreign muck! If I find anything that doesn't even come close to Ankh-Morpork standards, I'll be back!"

A few moments later, Twilight walked out of the kitchen, the swinging door briefly revealing a very frightened looking chef, and almost bumped into Jeannie.

"Oh, sorry," she said, "There are actually some benefits to being a werehuman, for one thing I can grow claws and teeth while still being human, which can be quite useful to..persuade people" she seemed to be saying this with more than a hint of pride

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 14, 2008 07:41 AM :

All Lilah wanted to do was launch herself at the Client, to try and kill him. But she didnt, because she knew she would fail. Instead, she hung back, because it was the only way she could stop herself.

Her tears had dried up. All that was left, was pure hatred.

_We'll need more weapons. Having the werewolves will help too But definatly more weapons. and..._ she groaned inwardly, _magic weapons._

When the client dissapeared back into the forest, Lilah allowed herself to move forward to Broc. "I want to go back to where Samson died. At least to see. And for his weapons, i'll need them. We've a couple of hours before we leave..." she looked away for a second, then back at him. "Come with me? If only to bury him?"

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 14, 2008 10:54 AM :

Broc nodded.

"Lead the way."

He turned to Jeannie and shouted

"Hey! Me and Lilah are going to see whats left of my son....this make take a while."

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 14, 2008 05:35 PM :

Lilah led Broc back through the forest, back to where she'd last seen Samson.

"we're here." She said, grimly, as they stepped into the clearing. But something was wrong. She'd expected to see a body, or...bit of a body, but there was nothing. Even Samsons pack had gone.

"He was here! she insisted. "Look at the scorch marks on the trees, the ground! This was the centre of the explosion. There should be...SOMETHING left..."

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 15, 2008 01:55 PM :

Patrick heard the voice clearly even though he had been upstairs packing his bag and helping Mina do the same.

_This all seemed so simple when we started out. Now I fear we won't live long enough to see the end of it._

Gathering up their belongings the wizard and the young witch headed down to the kitchens to see what was being prepared for breakfast.

Seeing Jeannie there, Patrick turned to Mina, "My dear, we are going to need salt for your lesson later. Ask the innkeeper for as much as he can spare please and put it in a sturdy container will you?"

Sitting down at the table, Patrick lowered his voice and asked the werewolf, "Are we getting out of here in one piece? I mean, we did deal a blow to the ferals, but now with that thing out there - what did she call it, 'The Client'? I seriously wish we could just return to the city and dump this whole mess back in the lap of that idiot Ridcully."

"Your family is still out there aren't they? How did they do in the fighting?"

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on February 15, 2008 02:20 PM :

Orcakeline heard The Client's saw the big tentacles so she retreated easily to the took the bread and the axe,she cleaned the axe at the bathroom and sharpened it was better than new the time would come to have to kill The Client.  
After that she went to the saw the thing that was supposed to be ,it didn't look too edible.

"Can I taste it,please?"she asked the innkeeper.  
"Sure!"he answered.

Orcakeline took a bite of the very peculiar had NO kind of the cook kidding her or was she THAT sleepy?She could not decide what it was so she presumed that it was edible,but it needed a lot of salt and pepper,and possibly some tomato sauce.

"What do we do now?The Client won't be too easy to get over.I'm ready to even die trying to kill that horrible the first place,until the food is ready I'll go wake me when it's ready.I'm kind of hungry little piece of bread wasn't night!Or should I say "good morning sleep in"?"Orcakeline giggled and looked at little Mina and smiled.

Afterwards she went to cold bed warmed up quite fast and her mind took her into another world.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 15, 2008 03:33 PM :

Despite her glum mood Jeanie couldn't help but smile at Twilight, she nodded in agreement

"I know what you mean, those sort of persuasive tricks can be very useful" she let her eyes flash orange briefly, winked and laughed. Despite Twilights feline origins Jeannie was beginning to form alot of respect for the cat, her loyalty to Mina was worthy of any wolf.

After Jeannie had sat herself down to wait for her breakfast it wasn't long before Patrick joined her. She hadn't really had a chance to talk to Patrick since the fight with the ferals, but how did you start a conversation like that? 'Sorry I nearly ate you...' seemed a bit thin in way of apology. Thankfully he steered the conversation in a different direction and Jeannie agreed with him whole heartedly

"I hear you Patrick, I would love to get out of this gods foresaken place and get back to the city. Wizard or no wizard, Ricully is going to have one pissed-off werewolf on his doorstep if...i mean _when_ we eventually get back!"

At his next question Jeannie sagged and looked out of the window towards the small village market square which even now was beginning to fill with enthusiastic pedlars.

"My family are going home, they took a lot of losses. Most of them are hurt...same for Jakes family. As for Jake himself I dont even have the faintest clue if he made it......"

Taking a deep breath to hide the shaking in her voice Jeannie decided she would rather talk about nearly eating Patrick.

"Before we go I think I owe you an apology. For the...you know...*ahem*_near miss_ back there in the woods. It was the blood and the fighting, so much of it, even I lost control....but I promise you I usually don't try to eat my friends"

She said the last bit with a shrug and an embarrassed smile. The innkeeper came over and placed a plate full of bacon and a plate full of fresh slices of bread in front of her. Jeannie pushed them toward the centre of the table

"There's far too much here for me to eat by myself, please help yourself and give plenty to Mina. The poor little thing looks like she could do with a few good meals"

As she bit into her food she wondered how Broc and Lilah were getting on and felt a pang of sympathy for them, there had been alot of losses during the violent bloody night that now lay, thankfully, behind them

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 15, 2008 04:06 PM :

Broc stepped into the clearing and looked at...nothing. there wasnt a single sign that his son had died here. He heard Lilah and agreed with her. There should be something...left. There was a rustle and...somthing humanoid stepped out. It stood tall with scars and cuts (some still bleading profusly) it had eyes but there were no whites just blackness. scorch marks covered it. then it spoke.

"You should have stayed away father. Lilah. Now i have to destroy both of you."

It took a step forward then stopped. It seemed to be struggling with itself. In a strained voice it said.

"Hes....taken over my mind...cant hold him out much longer. go. get out of here. get the others away."

Samson took another step forward

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 15, 2008 09:09 PM :

Lilah was shocked at the sight of Samson. Looking like that he should be dead. This was not good.

"Fight it, Samson, its not like you to give up." She gripped the sword she'd found earlier tighter as he approached. "I dont want to fight you, but i will if i have to. And you know i'll win." Samson stopped for a second. Lilah hoped he was remembering when they met and how bad she beat him up. Those were the days...

Shespoke quietly to Broc. "I cant decide whether to run back to the others or to try and stop Samson. We go back, hes going to follow us anyway. But it doesnt look like he can be killed... "

[ February 15, 2008, 11:07 PM: Message edited by: adie ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 17, 2008 05:40 AM :

Jeannie chewed thoughtfully on the surprisingly fresh bread, much as she loved bacon she could still taste the shameful blood of last night and decided that for now she would stick with the meat free option. The market square was now covered in various stalls and carts and Jeannie mused that it would be a good idea to go and stock up on various provisions before they set off on the next leg of their journey. Finishing her food she excused herself form the table

"I'm going to go and get some essentials from the market. We don't know when we'll next be in a town or village, we should stock up. Please, stay here. you and Mina need a good breakfast. I'll be back soon."

Blinking slightly as the bright morning light assaulted her tired eyes after the gloom of the inn Jeannie stepped outside and breathed in the fresh morning air. She looked around and decided to take her time and browse the various wares on offer. She was also glad of the opportunity to gather her thoughts and to try and make sense of all that had happened.

Soon it would be time to move on from here, on the next stage of the journey to deliver the Box to it's makers, the threat of the ferals was now just a whisper but what other perils would they have to face on the path to the Gods?

[ February 17, 2008, 06:22 PM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on February 17, 2008 10:26 AM :

Orcakeline got hour of sleep was a lot of time for the many days she lost.  
Went was smelling took a small piece of bread and took a bite from the already long ago fried eggs.

"Good thing they're not green eggs and ham!" whispered the dwarf joyfully and smiled,finishing the little giggle into a big grin.

"Thank you for the food."The dwarf said and went up to get ready for leaving in case it was time to kill The Client and get rid of the Box

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 17, 2008 02:56 PM :

Patrick enjoyed the peace and quiet of a decent breakfast with his friends and thought about what Jeannie had said.

_A town every few miles would be nice. The prospect of having a nice bed to sleep in each night would make this more bearable._

As usual, Orcakeline seemed to take everything in stride and didn't appear the least worried about anything.

As he watched Mina eat her breakfast, he realized that while they had some time, he should probably get on with her lessons.

"Alright Mina, let's get to some business okay? This will be your first lesson and although there are no notes to take, it is very important to try to remember what I tell you, okay?"

_If my suspicions are correct...and if Death was right as well, she probably already knows this - it's in her already....I just have to coax it out._

They continued to eat and talk for the next several minutes.

"You may know that everything is made up of four basic elements; air, water, fire and earth. But, I bet you didn't know that each element is governed by a specific spirit - someone that guards that element and makes sure it does its job correctly."

Mina was a good student; she appeared to soak up every word...

"Well, since you were so good the other day making those fire balls, I thought maybe you would like to meet Seraph, the spirit that is in charge of fire! Later tonight, when we stop to rest I will show you how to invite Seraph to speak with you anytime you want."

Adding a bit of cloak and dagger to keep her interest throughout the day, Patrick finished with, "Maybe if the others are nice today, we'll let them watch too."

Popping the last bit of bread from his plate into his mouth, the wizard stood, brought his plate over to the wash basin and thanked the innkeeper and cook for their hospitality. The question of the shattered windows was not an issue; the wizard patted his pocket where the letter from UU remained secure and winked. The innkeeper smiled knowingly and went about his business.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 18, 2008 06:52 AM :

After some rather enjoyable haggling with the various merchants Jeannie had managed to aquire a few warm blankets, plenty of rope, some sturdy leather water bottles and plenty of food. She had been careful not to buy too much of the more perishable foods and had opted for things like jerky that would keep for a good long while, but had also aquired a few things that would be fine for the next few days on the road. Growing up in Uberwald, Jeannie was all too aware of the possibility of it being days inbetween settlements and she wanted to prepare for all eventualities

She had also purchased a couple of items that were rather alien to her, being a werewolf meant that she needed no aids for hunting but the others would probably object to their meat being cut up by teeth so the razor sharp hunting knives, that had been aqquired from a 'unofficial' merchant whos stall consisted of his coat adorned with hundreds of pockets and who Jeannie had spotted skulking around near a back alley, were carefully wrapped in cloth and put into one of the sacks she now carried with her

Satrified that she had got as much as she could to make their journey a little more bearable Jeanie hoisted the sacks over her shoulders and walked slowly throught the crowd of farmers and villagers towards the Inn.

She paused and gazed at the treeline of the forest that covered the hills around this village. Her heart felt heavy, some of her family had met their end in those trees. Alecs brother was no more, Jeannie shuddered at the memory....and where was Jake? Now, more than ever Jeannie wished she could speak with him. She longed to speak of the torment that the beast was inflicting on her, how it salivated at the thought of the blood and flesh that it had ripped from Andres bones. She knew he would understand....

A heartfelt sigh escaped from her mouth, she tore her gaze from the cursed forest and returned to the inn, opening the door she entered and slung the sacks on the table next to Patrick and Mina.....

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on February 18, 2008 08:38 AM :

Mina continued muching at her breakfast as she listened to the wizard's lesson. As she listened, she concentrated on being as still and quiet as possible, until, all of a sudden...

"BOO!" Mina turned towards the the wizard miming an attack.

"That's the fifth elemum." She explained "Surprise. When will we call up Seraph? Where does he live?"

After a bit, Mina added "Can I have the box back now? You stopped thinking about it and it's leaking.." Sure enough, the pens in the pocket where the box was being kept had become animated and were jumping around.

"What are we doing now?"

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 18, 2008 05:52 PM :

Broc took a step forward. He stared into the blackness and saw hopelesness. With all the power a zombie can wield, Broc punched Samson in the chest. Samson went flying. Turning, Broc Grabbed Lilah and pulled her toward the inn. When they got there he told Lilah.

"Go! Get the others, tell them to gather thier things and get thier behinds out here. I'll get the Coach Ready. we gotta get outta here. MOVE!"

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 19, 2008 03:56 AM :

Lilah went back into the inn while Broc got the coach ready, andfound several of the group at the table. "change of plans", sh said to them, picking a bit of bacon off the plate. "We've got to get moving NOW. The Clients taken control of whats left of Samson. He'll use what Samson knows to come after us, so we shouldnt be here." Lilah noticed the pens flying around the wizard. "The box thing is doing that? The client wants it so much, why not use it against him? I'd say it could stop him." she shrugged at the look they gave her. "Best get the rest of the group down here now."

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 19, 2008 04:00 AM :

The wizard was about to explain that they would call up Seraph later that night, when Lilah ran in with the news.

Quickly handing the box to Mina for safe guarding, he called out to Jeannie and the others as he grabbed up the various luggage and supplies that he could.

"Mina, we have to go now. Make sure Twilight and Snuffles are ready will you?"

Hearing the coach being readied, Patrick stepped out into the bright morning sun....

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on February 19, 2008 03:52 PM :

Orcakeline took her orange sweater and her favorite blue of course,like all dwarfs,she wore many other layers.(-like onions! -not true!parfait!)

The dwarf voices downstairs and young Mina coming up towards the other rooms on that was crossing the hall.  
Orcakeline took her axe and another supply of dwarf bread,putting in her side pockets little crumbs of bread,hopping the scene from Hänsel and Gretel won't be a case.  
She went downstairs and saw Lilah with a little bit of an angry face.  
The dwarf settled herself on a chair waiting for another word from the other.A "go,go,go" phrase or something.  
The dwarf knew something bad was happening,she could see it in Patrick's another sad idea came to her like a stroke,she remembered that before she left Ankh-Morpork she had a before she left she had a terrible fight with that now remembered how much she loved that did she have to quarrel?And now she could die,but she wouldn't become friends again ,and that was unfair!Because that person was her best friend.

The dwarf put an elbow on the table and a very melancholic expression appeared on her face...

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on February 19, 2008 05:46 PM :

Annie heard talking, and when she went tp where everyone else was she recognised the atmosphere in the room immediately. It meant that something was happening. She did what she usually did in those circumstances- stood still looking confused and waiting for someone to tell her what to do. At the moment the person she felt she trusted most was Jeannie, but if anyone else told her what to do she would willingly obey them. Nothing annoyed her more than not knowing what was going on and what she should do.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 20, 2008 08:11 AM :

Jeannie ran upstairs and grabbed the only thing in the inn room that belonged to her, her leather pack. Something seemed to occur to her and she paused, rummaging around in one of the pockets she found a notebook.

After a few moments of hasty writing, Jeannie sealed the letter in an envelope and slinging her pack over her shoulder ran back down the stairs. She handed the letter to the inn keeper along with a handful of gold coins.

"There is a gentleman staying here, he's tall and dark and goes by the name of Alec. Please give him this letter, it's _very_ important!" The burly innkeeper nodded, he wasn't going to argue with a werewolf and the gold coins would help him remember his task.

Grabbing up the sacks she had brought from the market Jeannie proceeded to the door doing a mental checklist as she went.

_Pack....food....blankets...._

She saw Annie stood looking perplexed so she called her over

"We have to leave right away, grab what possessions you want to take with you and get on the coach right now"

Sure enough Broc has just parked the coach outside the front of the inn and Jeannie slung the sacks on top of the coach then climbed up to secure them to the coach. She looked around at all times keeping an eye out for the un-dead Samson but she could see nothing, nevertheless she wasted no time in finishing packing the coach and urging the others to get onboard...

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on February 20, 2008 09:12 AM :

Mina ran upstairs to get Twilight and Snuffles.

"Twi'ight! Snuffy!" she called out, "c'mon we're gonna go away now! We're gonna go somewhere I don't know where and then we'll call up a fire person called Seraph!"

Mina found Twilight in a room talking to Nova.  
"we're going to go now" she told them. Mina then ran downstairs again,  
"Snuffy! Snuffy! Snuffy?"  
She found Snuffles asleep outside a little way away. She was now used to the idea of a cat-man so she confidently went up and prodded him.  
"Wakey wakey Snuffy, s'time to go or you'll get left behind!" Mina tickled him playfully under the chin, and giggled as he squirmed in a way only cats can squirm.  
"Niiiiice Snuffy, heeheeheeheehee!"

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 20, 2008 01:17 PM :

Patrick tried to keep watch over the others as Jeannie prepared the belongings on the coach. He was feeling a little awkward as he watched Broc put the finishing touches on the team of horses.

The wizard thought maybe he go over and say something to him, but decided to let things lay where they were for now.

Turning back to the front door of the inn, Patrick could just make out Orcakeline sitting by herself at the table. He recognized that look on her face; he seen it many times in the mirror staring back out at him.

Walking inside he caught her eye and invited her to join the others.

"I really don't think you want to be here by yourself. Come on, let's go. You saved my life about a dozen times this morning and I still haven't thanked you. You're just going to have to ride along with us until I can think of something."

Patrick tried a smile, but he knew it was weak. He could use two or three days worth of sleep right about now.

"Come on Annie, you as well. We're leaving this place in a few minutes. Bring all your goodies."

Once again thanking the innkeeper for all of his help, Patrick walked back outside and climbed on top of the coach.

_Hmmm. The last time I rode up here, I seem to remember I was attacked by what turned out to be a very large rubber ducky._

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 20, 2008 02:18 PM :

Broc put the final preperations on the coach. He looked at the forrest and saw him step out. Samson looked worse. Samson stopped at the edge of the forrest and stared straight at Broc. Broc handed the riens to Patrick.

"Go. Take the others and get the hell outta here. Ill hold him off. Don't worry. I'll catch up."

Broc walked in front of Samson. They stared at each other. Broc Charged. Samson slowly walked forward. They met. There was a few complicated moments...then Broc went flying into the forrest. Samson walked after him. A few minutes later Broc's scream reverberated through out the area

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on February 20, 2008 04:11 PM :

Orcakeline raised her face towards Patrick and as well tried to her friend she couldn't maintain her smile,so before Patrick went out of the inn,she stopped him on the doorstep.

"I know it's not the moment for being puffy,but I will tell you the reason for which I am 's not loneliness.I had a fight with a friend,and if I'll die I won't become friends again with that makes me mad,because he was one of my best friends!But no time for being sloppy,we have something to do!  
Oh,and I thought what I could do after this experience...Should I join the A-M Watch?I would have Jeannie as a friend,and I could live back home again!"And the dwarf smiled this time quite briefly.

She took her pack with another few clothes and got into the coach.

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on February 20, 2008 05:13 PM :

Twilight nodded as Mina ran off, turned and kneeled down to her brother.

"C'mon," she said, "I'll carry you"

_"I don't need to be carried,"_ he said, _"I_ have _legs, you know"_ Twilight shrugged and turned to walk out when she felt an increase in weight on her shoulders. She turned to the sight of Nova clinging onto her back

_"However, I wouldn't object to a ride,"_ he said, smiling. Twilight rolled her eyes and, picking him up by the scruff of his neck, dropped him to the ground, and walked out of the room

_"Sheesh, no sense of humor,"_ Nova said, following behind her.

Twilight walked downstairs and outside, to find Mina trying to awaken Snuffles.

"C'mon, Mina," she said, smiling, "Time to go" She then turned to the dozing form of Snuffles and nudged him with her foot.

"Wake up, Snuffles," she said, "Get up or get left behind"

Shifting her form back into a cat, Twilight lead the girl and her brother over to the coach. Nova wasted no time in taking up station under the seat, and Twilight made herself comfortable in Mina's lap

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 20, 2008 05:40 PM :

Lilah ducked upstairs to find her crossbow. She had no arrows left, but a crossbow like hers were expensive, and seeing as she'd lost all her money when her pack was taken by the ferals, she wasnt willing to part with it.

She headed back downstairs, swiped some more food off an abandoned plate wondering when the llast time she ate properly was, then stepped outside. Shielding her eyes against the bright sun, she spotted Samson and Broc in the distance.

"He caught up" she told those at the coach. "Time to move."

Then she heard the scream.

_oh crap_

she wasnt about to go after Samson alone. Broc was a lot stronger than she was, and yet it still sounded like he had lost. Going after him alone was suicide.

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on February 21, 2008 01:56 PM :

Annie was packed very quickly since she had taken hardly anything out of her bag since she arrived, but she still had something to do. She took the letter out of her bag and tore it into tiny pieces. There wasn't any point in having it anymore. There was no way in hell she was going back to her parents, let alone going back to them having stolen the box from her new friends. And her parents wouldn't be too happy at the news that they now had a werewolf to be responsible for. After Annie had torn up the letter, she hurried out and followed the others into the coach.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 22, 2008 12:33 PM :

The coach was ready to go, everyone was on it except for Lilah who stood looking torn between a desicion. Jeannie had also seen Broc dissapear into the forest and was also in a dilemma

_Have to try and help him....no, too dangerous, get the others to safety.....he might still be alright....he might be dead....Can't leave a man behind!...can't let the creature get the box!..._

The rabble of the internal dialogue rose to a pitch and culminated in Jeannie kicking one of the coache wheels and yelling

"Ok, we have to get moving _now!!_. Get on the coach or get left behind!"

Muttering and cursing to herself Jeanie climbed up to the drivers seat and picked up the reins. With a dark look in her eys she urged the horses towards a good fast pace, apart from the wind in her ears there was silence as the coach rattled over the crude road that led away from the village.

Without moving her head Jeannie spoke quietly to Patrick

"I had no choice...we would have all been killed if we had gone after him..."

Perhaps Patrick nodded in understanding or perhaps not but Jeanie didn't turn to look as she kept her gaze firmly on the road ahead.......

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 22, 2008 01:56 PM :

Patrick said nothing as Jeannie urged more and more speed from the team. He knew that she had made the right decision as hard as it was for the good of the entire group.

_If there is way, Broc will find it._

He sat on the seat not daring to look over his shoulder; he was almost sure he would see Samson right behind them if he did.

"Can we make it to Lancre before night fall?"

Patrick had no idea how far it was, but he hoped that they could. There they might find peace, at least for a little while.

"One of my mentors told me of a wise woman, a witch, that lives there. I hope she is still around. We may be needing her help before long."

The wizard watched as Jeannie deftly handled the coach and tried to get comfortable on the seat. It would be a long day of traveling.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 22, 2008 03:38 PM :

Broc flew against the tree. He winced in pain. Samson was using some kind of magic that made Broc feel pain. As Samson reached for Broc again there was the patter of hoves and a grunt. Samson slid along the ground and looked at the newcomer. Newcomers in fact. Broc immdiently recoginzed Traq. Fomer undead gang member and very former attacker. Samson realized that he didn't have the time to deal with the zombies. Leaping up he swung away in the tree tops like a monkey. Broc stood up and Looked up at Traq and the other zombies who rode on horses.

"What do you want Traq?" Broc asked

"Why be so rude to someone who just saved you Broc?"

Broc just snorted  
Traq shrugged and continued.

"Im here to stop the client. He's very...anti-undead. He gets that Box, every werewolf, Vampire and zombie will be very sorry."

Broc glanced at the dents in the tree's Samson had caused by throwing Broc at them.

"So you're going to stop the client from getting the Box by stealing it your self."

Traq shook his head.

"That could be a way. But right now we just want to stop the client. And your son isnt the only mindcontrolled slave He has."

Broc seemed to contemplate for a second then grinned.

"Got an extra horse?"

Traq grinned back. And waved.

A zombie brought up an extra horse. Broc leaped up. Brocs grin got wider.

"LETS RIDE!!!"

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 22, 2008 06:36 PM :

(ok ive tried twice already to post this...stupid computer)

Lilah reached her decision of what to do as the coach started to move. She grabbed the back of it, and climbed up on top. IT mightnt be the most comfortable place to sit, but she didnt like not being able to see where she was going.

She felt slightly bad about leaving Broc behind, but knew she was not really ready to face Samson. If he was going to be stopped, it wasnt going to happen now.

Patric spoke.

"Lancre, hey" lilah murmerd. "Dont think ive been there."

His mention of the Lancre witch made her smile. She knew of a few up there. Then she remembered the book, and giggled.

The scenery moved past quickly, it seemed Jeannie knew how to get the best out of the horses. Of course, there was always a chance they were trying to run away from her. Lilah had no doubts that Jeannie was the same wolf that had growled at her earlier. Suddenly, she recognised where she was.

"Stop the coach! She yelled. The coach slowed down, and Lilah jumped off, bolting into the trees. This was where her and Samson has set there trap. Thirty seconds later she was back at the coach, with her pack and sword. They were right where she'd dropped them when the ferals had taken her. Lilah climbed back up, and the coach took off. Looking through her pack made her very happy indeed. More arrows, her daggers, money, and clean non-ripped-to-shreds clothes. LEaning back in the chair, she reloaded her crossbow. They might just need it.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 25, 2008 07:35 AM :

The coach moved swiftly and soon all signs of civilisation were left behind them. The road became little more than a dirt track that wound through the dense trees and the coach lurched and jolted it's way through the forests of Uberwald.

Jeannie didn't say much, the ride was giving her much needed time to collect her thoughts. So much had happened in the past few days.

They had been travelling for a few hours and the exertion of the fight and lack of sleep was beginning to catch up with Jeannie. No doubt the others would be feeling it too. Besides, the afternoon light was beginning to fade, it would be safer to make camp then continue their journey in the morning. Finding a suitably place Jeannie stopped the coach by a sheltered clearing that would provide them with a fairly reasonable amount of protection from the elements. The wind was getting up and was bringing the bitter chill of evening with it.

"Okay everyone, time to rest up. Lets get settled in for the night"

Pulling the various bags off the top of the coach Jeannie began to make camp. Once she had fashioned some crude, yet servicable tents from some canvas sheets they had bought back in the village, Jeannie went to collect some firewood, a fire would bring many things...warmth, comfort, light and of course they could cook themselves a good meal with the provisions they had brought with them. no camp was complete without a fire so Jeannie walked into the forest collecting useful bits of wood as she went....

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 25, 2008 12:02 PM :

Patrick was glad when the coach had finally come to a rest, he wasn't used to long rides like that. For most of the trip he had remained quiet, thinking of the events of the last couple of days and worrying a little about what was still out there.

As he helped to set up their camp, the wizard couldn't help but stop every few minutes and watch and listen for movement around them. He had the feeling that any minute now another feral would come crashing out of the tree-line.

He took out only those things from the bags that he and Mina would need for the night and then placed the luggage back on the coach - no sense in scrambling for things in the dark.

As Jeannie went to get the firewood, Patrick went about making sure they had a good spot for the fire and cleared out an area around it. Later he would teach Mina about the fire elemental and they'd need a decent space to work in.

Looking up, it was hard to get a clear view of the sky; the trees provided excellent cover above. He stood there just watching the branches sway back and forth in the wind.....

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 25, 2008 05:10 PM :

When JEannie announced that they wwere spending the night in this clearing Lilah jumped off the top of the coach. She didnt much like the choice, but it would have to do. The horses couldnt go on, not without rest, and the rest of the group seemed too tired to go on as well.

Lilah headed into the forest with the intent of getting changed. Clean clothes would be heaven, but being able to wear something more suited to fighting and travelling, rather than the rather expensive - and rather ruined - dress she was in at the moment, also appealed to her.

Lilah had almost finished dressing when she heard a twig snap behind her. She stiffened. Was someone there? She picked up her sword and went to find out.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 26, 2008 06:33 PM :

Samson burst out of the foilage and slammed Lilah against the tree. His face conterted in anger then....He smiled. And gave her a big hug.

"Ya. Ya. don't look too shocked. I've been able to fight off the Client for a while. He thinks im off to Ankh-Morpork looking for you guys."

He let her go and took a step back.

"I'm putting SGT. Blackwell's training to good use. But, look. I just wanted to make sure i didn't hurt you at all. Granted you most likely hurt me more than i you. I was freaking out. I didn't want anything to happen to you. I care about you...alot"

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 27, 2008 07:34 AM :

Being slammed against the tree hurt. A lot. Lilah let out an involuntary grunt of pain. Staring into Samsons angry eyes, she felt a hint of fear. Then, to her surprise, he hugged her.

"samson..." it felt good to be back there. At the mention of the client, though she snapped back to reality.

"You shouldnt have followed me" she hissed. "You dont know how long you can hold him off for."

HE stepped back, and she moved away from the tree. Samson kept talking.

"You didnt hurt me. I saw you grab your father though. I heard him screaming. Is he even still.." alive wasnt the right word. "...upright?". she sighed. "If you care, you'll leave. Go look in Ankh Morpork like you told the Client you were. Its too risky having you here." she went to leave. "And i care about you too. Thats why im giving you this chance. But if you try and attack us, it wont be like this. I wont hesitate next time. Now GO!"

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 27, 2008 08:16 AM :

With her arms full of firewood Jeannie was slowly making her way back to the camp when she had heard a noise amongst the trees. Carefully putting down the assorted branches and twigs she had crept towards the source of it and could pick up Lilahs scent and also the scent of...

_oh no!_

Before she could react Samson had grabbed Lilah, Jeannie was about to intervene when it became apparent that things were far from aggressive between the pair. not wanting to intrude Jeannie retreated, re-claimed her pile of fuel and walked back to the camp, depositing the pile of wood noisily on the ground by the place that Patrick had prepared.

"That should be enough to get a good fire going. I'll go and get some more to see us through the night"

Smiling at Mina and Patrick, Jeannie walked back into the increasingly dark forest. It held no fear for her, werewolves weren't generally afraid of much. She took her time, listening to the sounds of the forest. Occasionally one of the real wolves of Uberwald would send out a howl, Jeannie didn't pay much attention until she heard a name mentioned in one of the howls that puncuated the nightly sounds. She froze in her tracks, dropped the pile of wood onto her foot, swore under her breath and hopped about a bit. Once she had composed herself she scooped up the firewood and, her heart racing, walked briskly back to the camp. Having deposited the wood onto the nicely sized pile of fuel Jeannie once more dissapeared into the now black forest...

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 27, 2008 11:33 AM :

Samson sighed. Life wasn't easy.

"Ya, my dad's okay. Rode off with abunch of his old zombie buddies." He sighed again. "Man...I don't want to leave. I can...hold him off. I don't want to leave you."

Samson stepped closer to Lilah and looked into her eyes.

Broc rode at the front of the group. As he rounded a bend He saw a camp. He recognized the carriage. He slowed down the group to a trot. The group trotted into the camp. Broc looked down at the others. Then he smiled.

"Well...Well its you guys lucky day. I got help."

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on February 27, 2008 11:50 AM :

Jeannies sudden urge to delve into the forest was curbed by the sound of hoofbeats heading to the camp. Torn between which way to go, her loyalty to the group won out and she ran back to the clearing, jumping logs and weaving through the trees cursing as she went. She was presented with the sight of Broc....accompanied by the same zombies who had caused them a problem or three back at the Embassy. Her arms folded, she walked slowly over to the grinning zombie. She greeted him with a smile but narrowed her eyes at the other zombies

"It's good to see you are still walking around Broc, but..." she indicated the other un-dead with a nod of her head "...can your friends here be trusted? I havn't forgotten what they did before"

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 27, 2008 01:27 PM :

Patrick had started piling the wood that Jeannie had brought back and used some to prepare the fire. He had asked Mina to light the fire using one of the fireballs he had taught her to summon and was waiting patiently when Broc arrived.

The wizard was glad to see the zombie again, but not so glad to see the others he brought with him. Deciding not to say anything just yet, he watched Jeannie walk up to them and then tried to focus his attention on Mina and the fire.

"Not too big Mina, we only ever use just the magic that we need. We never ask for anything more. What we take, we have to give back at some point."

Reaching into a small pouch he produced the salt taken from the inn and looked around for his knife. This particular knife was midnight black and was never used to cut anything...physical.

Unrolling a green cloth onto one of the larger rocks close to their fire, Patrick laid out the salt and knife. After dinner they'd need both to call forth an old friend.

Standing up straight, Patrick pretended to stretch a little as he kept an eye on the new arrivals.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 27, 2008 05:30 PM :

Lilah turned away, breaking eye contact.

"Damnit, Samson, dont make this harder for me! I'm trying to help you, i really am. But i cant do that while you're around. I cant trust that its...only you in your head. Its too risky!" she smiled sadly. "I doubt the group will welcome you back either, and they're who i have to be with right now."

She went to leave, but paused. "i'll find you when this is done. It is possible to break free of the client, and i should know..." she fled the forest.

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on February 28, 2008 01:27 PM :

Orcakeline slept half the way but when she woke up she looked through the little thing that was supposed to be a window.  
Many images went before her eyes but she couldn't catch they stopped,the dwarf went out and yawned ,quite a very loud yawn was took her axe and asked for everybody was working so she got no response.  
The dwarf started putting many rocks,circling the place where the fire was going to light the night.

_This way none will be hurt by the fire!It will be safe!_ ,the dwarf thought.

It was hard work after little to she didn't just worked and..as a matter a fact,she whistled a very well-known song that the birds used to sing in the morning when she fed them.

When she was almost over she looked at Broc and the other knew Broc,and it was good to have him all,he helped very much.  
The dwarf held her axe poor look on th other zombies faces was were almost smiling,if you could call it that way.  
This time she didn't interfere and waited for instructions.

"Oh,h'llo!"And turning to Jeannie "'s anything can do?"

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on February 28, 2008 04:41 PM :

Broc slid off the horse and turned to Jeannie.

"Ya neither have I. But, Traq's got something to say."

Broc nodded to Traq, who nodded back and turned to address Jeannie.

"The jist of the problem is, well, If the client gets ahold of that box. The Undead of Uberwald will not, heh, live long. But i don't have that much time to explain. Broc, My group will keep on riding. We will try to clear the way for you."

With that Traq turned his horse and the group rode off.

Samson stared after Lilah.

" _Well?_ " a voice said in his head.

"She still thinks you have total control over me. We need to covince them otherwise."

" _Fine. Prepare your self._ "

Samson felt a tingling sensation that burst into an overwhelming amount of pain. He blacked out

Broc had tethered the horse and was leaning against a nearby rock. He saw Lilah come running out of the forrest.

"Looks like you saw a ghost."

What Broc didnt see was the swirling mass of dark clouds above him.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on February 29, 2008 08:48 AM :

Lilah took Broc aside.

"Ghost? No. Ghosts i can handle. Samson? Yes." Lilah stopped Broc before he could bolt into the forrest. "He didnt attack me. He tried to convince me that he can hold off the client. But i dont know if that was Samson actually talking or him being used as a puppet."

She was troubled by what Samson hadsaid. He cared about her...she'd waited so long to hear him say it, but the possibility that it was just the client trying to catch her off guard weighed heavily on her mind.

"He'll still be around. Following, watching." She scanned the trees, trying to see if she could spot him. "its near impossible to do wat Samson says he's doing, even with Sgt Blackwells training."

She looked around the camp. As for what to do about him... we should stay here, for now. Let the others get some rest. He'll be with us whereever we are, so packing up and moving wont help. just keep an eye out, ok? And dont trust him. not yet, not til the client is dead"

Lilah went over and sat by the fire, ocasionally poking it with a stick, the chance at boredom suddently very appealing. But the converstaion with Samosn kept playing over and over in her mind, as she tried to work out if it was really him.

...i care about you...a lot....

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on February 29, 2008 01:16 PM :

Patrick hadn't caught much of the conversation, but he did hear enough to know that at least the other zombies wouldn't be staying. That gave him some relief, but something still didn't feel right.

Deciding for once to follow his instinct, the wizard began pacing out a wide circle around the fire that was now taking shape. It would have to be wide enough.....

He began talking out loud to Mina, but to be honest, he wasn't even aware if she was listening. Patrick concentrated.

"Once you have a circle marked out, about 9 feet in diameter, check to make sure it is clear of major obstacles - no rocks or tree limbs lying about."

Reaching down and picking up the bag of salt from where he had left it, Patrick stopped only momentarily to ask Mina to bring him some water in a small cup. He 'd need it to complete the spell.

"This is more along your line of magic my dear, wizards don't much like doodling in the dirt, but it is still very strong and lasting."

Patrick began using his hand to sift the salt onto the outline of the circle; he felt the familiar tingle run up his arm as the spell began to anticipate his needs....

"Mina, have you ever seen a real dragon? Nice fellows really, very misunderstood."

Inside the salt barrier, all became calm; no wind, little noise.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 01, 2008 09:40 AM :

Lilah, entranced by the fire, didnt notice straight away the magic circle Patrick had lain down around her and the fire. The comment about dragons certainly captured her attention, and then she noticed her position in relation to the circle. Was the wizard THAT tired that he hadnt noticed her sitting there? She stood up.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" she went to step out of the barrier, but couldnt.

_Oh crap...._

Posted by **Max aka Helicopterpassoverhead** (Member # 3874) on March 01, 2008 04:00 PM :

Snuffles' animal instincts tingled. He was a cat, well, a human-cat hybrid-thing, but, in his heart he was still just a tomcat. And cats know about magic.  
Something was going to happen by the fire. Something bad. Two worlds clashing.  
Surely Patrick had sensed it already, but Snuffles scrambled up behind him and nudged him towards the fire as encouragingly as he could.  
In his panic, all he could articulate were a few faint 'Meows.'. _Just_ 'Meows.'. Nothing else.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 01, 2008 05:05 PM :

Jeannie said nothing when Traq spoke to her, she narrowed her eyes and repressed the urge to curl back her lip and snarl. The only acknowledgement the zombie got from her was a brief nod of her head before he and his un-dead gang rode off.

With a indistinguishable noise that could have been a growl or a grunt or mumbled swearing Jeannie turned, her long hair getting in her eyes and annoying her, although Jeannie was feeling increasingly annoyed about....well, pretty much everything at the moment. She dismissed it as a bad case of PLT, the moon would soon be arriving at it's fullness. She had perhaps a few days before the monthly imprisonment in her lupine form when the full moon lent its glow to the night skies. It was no effort at all to hear what Broc and Lilah were talking about, although Jeannie didn't eavesdrop on purpose. Her sensitive ears picked up every word whether she wanted to hear it or not

_So Samson is prowling around here is he?...well, that's something to be aware of_

She watched Patrick begin to prepare the spell he wanted to show young Mina and decided that now would be a good time to go get some dinner. She Changed in the trees and went to hunt... it felt so good to run, to hunt! The sheer release as she allowed her powerful legs to stretch and sprint through the trees was an indescribable feeling of almost euphoric quality, she let her wolf body run then a small brown shape ran into her path, realised it's mistake and skittered off through the trees. Jeannie eyes glinted and the pursuit began.....

When a human shaped, fully dressed although slightly out of breath, Jeannie returned to the camp a short while later carrying four freshly killed rabbits, their necks neatly snapped from being shook in her powerful jaws the first thing she noticed was Lilah on the wrong side of the magic barrier that had been set up around the fire. Magic was not Jeannie's thing, she had absolutely no idea about it except that is caused problems like magical boxes that went around giving people extra tails. Throwing the rabbits down onto the ground Jeannie took one of the hunting knives from the bag and began to skin and gut the kill and simply watched to see what would happen.....

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on March 01, 2008 07:08 PM :

Annie had stayed in the carriage while the others had been setting up camp and everything, but came out with the feeling that something strange was happening. She saw the circle and the fire. Then she _knew_ that something strange was happening. She remembered that a hardly-talked-about cousin of her mother was a wizard of some kind, and once when she was very young he had told her never to get involved with magic. She remembered weird stories, and in less distant memories she remembered the box. Magic scared her, but scared her in a way that she found it fascinating and mesmerising. She stared at the ground inside the circle and didn't notice what anyone else was saying. She waited, knowing that something important was going to happen.

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on March 01, 2008 10:46 PM :

Twilight, dozing in the shade of the trees, watched dully as the wizard prepared his spell for young Mina. Nova was still in the coach, having been out cold for most of the trip, Twilight had found it best to just let him rest, it had been a long journey for him from Anhk-Morpork

Suddenly, the ends of Twilights whiskers began to prickle as magic began filling the air. She sat up, now noticing what was happening in the circle. She saw Lilah standing in the middle, looking terrified, and she saw Mina, not too far away from the cirle. A feeling like the sensation felt a split second before a thunderclap crept over Twilight's body. Instinct taking hold of her, she ran towards the group, shifting into a human as she ran, and grabbed Mina and held her back just as the magic fire roared up and flashed inside of the magic cirle, consuming the world in it's brilliant light.....

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 02, 2008 09:52 AM :

Jeannie felt her skin tingle as the clearing became charged with magic, she put down the carcass she had been busily working on and absentmindedly began to lick to blood off her fingers. Realising what she was doing she froze, shocked at herself. Thankfully the others all seemed to absorbed in the spell to notice, hurriedly wiping her hands on a rag Jeannie stood up, before she could move the air seemed to become condensed, there was a feelng of tension that made her ears feel as though they were full of water then suddenly it released and the fire roared with a magical blaze...

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on March 02, 2008 11:43 AM :

Orcakeline heard no affirmative no one needed her help for the moment.

She laid her axe and little pieces of bread onto the floor and got a glimpse of something moving in the was it?She starred closer and tried to clarify the was LILAH!

"Oh,my GODS!"the dwarf exclaimed."Lilah's in there!Stop!Patrick,Mina!Do something!Stop now!she can get hurt!Guuuuyyysss!!!!"

The dwarf took her axe in her left her right hand she tried to enter the circle but she couldn't get tried throwing the axe into the fell lifeless on the ground.

Again,she gave a desperate cry,hoping someone would do something:

"Patrick!Jeannie!Someone!Help Lilah!Can't you see she's trapped in there?Heeelp her!!!"

The dwarf kept trying to enter the circle,even thou she knew it was useless.

[ March 02, 2008, 11:45 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 02, 2008 02:56 PM :

((So glad to finally join. Hope I can keep up the standard!))

Smaller-Than-Wee-Jock-Jock was tired. How was HE to know that nutting a pigeon on the head in mid-flight would make it, well she in this case, fall. And now the dratted pigeon was dead from the impact of the fall, and his less than perfect sense of direction had led him in circles.

The smell of fire drew him to a small clearing and the prickle of magic excited his sense of danger. Maybe there would be something to fight here, and the forest had been mysteriousley devoid of things to fight previously. Smaller-Than-Wee-Jock-Jock, or just Jock as his brothers called him since Wee-Jock went back to living, was indeed very small, barely an inch in height, but was still very keen on headbutting and generally fighting anything that moved. Jock was a long way from Lancre and didn't know what there was suppossed to be round here to fight. He had thought he saw a good pair of rabbits a while back, but before even his high-speed miniature legs could propel him towards them a wolf had made off with them.

Entering the clearing, Jock was met with a strange sight. The magical circle contained 3 humans, one very wee and another looking extremely scared. _Coward_ he thought, then turned his gaze to the next person. A stouter, but still wee, human with a grizzly beard was attacking the magical barrier with gusto.

_Ach, Crivens! This ah can manage. A guid fight should ge' the old haid workin._

Jock ran towards the barrier and began to ravage it, the lack of progress not worrying him in the slightest

*edited for spelling, but then I can't spell*

[ March 02, 2008, 02:58 PM: Message edited by: Jock ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 02, 2008 03:26 PM :

Whilst everyone was yelling Jeannie stood still, to an outsider this may have seemed as though she didn't care whereas in truth she felt just as panicky as the others about Lilah being trapped in the magic circle, but panicking wouldn't help her to try and think of a solution so instead Jeannie stood and thought hard. Unfortunately this didn't get her very far as although she possessed many skills, being able to break through a magic barrier wasn't one of them.

She was about to join in with the yelling just so it felt as though she was doing something about the helpless situation when a realisation struck her, the fire was a different colour to normal fire and Jeannie could detect no heat coming from the blaze. Now of course this could have just been the effects, and indeed the purpose, of the magic barrier or perhaps it meant that this fire had a different purpose than the regular kind. She vaguely remembered Patrick talking to Mina about summoning an elemental...of course the idea of Lilah being stuck in a bubble with a god-like being wasn't great either but it was certainly better than the prospect of her being roasted alive

Jeannie whirled around to see what Patrick had to say about just how dangerous this situation was when she heard a tiny voice go past her ....

_"Crivens!!!"_

......and had to blink several times to believe what she was seeing. A tiny blue man was actually _head butting_ the magic barrier. Jeannie looked from the blue man to Patrick then back again, completely gob smacked.

At last she found her voice again and spoke to the wizard

"Is this anything to do with your spell?!" she asked whilst pointing at the small man with the apparently indestructable skull.....

[ March 02, 2008, 03:28 PM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on March 02, 2008 03:49 PM :

Patrick had never seen such a reaction to his magic before, but then he rarely let anyone else see the inner workings of a spell. Snuffles appeared to be the first to react and he understood why; nodding a thanks to the giant cat he was glad that someone else had noticed the possible danger. He looked down at the figure Jeannie had spoken off and was caught off guard by the sight of the Feegle trying to hack his way into the circle. "Oh my my. They _are_ real!"

Lilah looked truly upset and he was almost ready to let her stress out a bit just for a laugh, but then the fire erupted and Patrick decided to let her off the hook. Taking his athame from his robe, the wizard made a cut in the magical barrier that had taken hold. To him, the cut resembled a doorway, sparking along the edges; to the others, he had simply traced an outline in the air.

Smiling at Lilah he offered her the escape that she seemed desparate for, having to stifle a giggle again at the reaction from the group. Kneeling down at the doorway, the wizard called to Mina, trying to assure Twilight and the others that she would indeed be safe.

"The Silver Horde couldn't get in here if they wanted to. Besides, this is part of Mina's training and I am sure she can handle this. Don't worry."

Taking the bowl of water from her, he set it on the edge of the circle before closing the 'door' behind them. The others would be able to see what was happening and possibly hear as well, but they would not be harmed by anything manifesting inside the barrier.

"Alright Mina, let us begin. Always start facing west, mover widdershins around the circle until you have called all four guardians. When, or if they show, you can then work in peace and safety."

Kneeling once again and placing the water in the correct spot, Patrick continued the spell with Mina repeating what the wizard said, word for word.

"I call upon the guardians of the West, ancient ones of water. I ask that you witness this rite and guide my hand." For a few seconds there was nothing, then ever so slightly, there began a shimmering of the air around the barrier like the rising of heat off the desert sands. A pale blue figure slowly took shape and finally showed itself as a dragon, slightly opaque, sitting just outside the circle facing the wizard and witch.

Around the circle Mina and Patrick called the other three guardians; a red dragon for the southern fires, a white dragon for the eastern air and finally a brown for the northern soil.

"Remember my dear, always ask - never demand anything of them! They are far more powerful than any wizard or witch. Also, if you suspect attack from the outside, ask them to guard; if you suspect trouble from within, ask them to witness."

Sitting now on the ground along side the fire, Patrick and Mina worked on calling up Seraph, the fire elemental. "Seraph is a bit like most elementals, Mina; he is not to be trusted - hence the guardians. Be firm with him, don't expect him to give anything freely and don't be afraid to disperse him if he gives you any...er..wisecracks."

Patrick watched like a proud father as his apprentice took it all in stride and began summoning Seraph.

Another mighty eruption of flames burst forth from the fire, making Patrick realize they would have to add more wood later for cooking dinner. The flames licked up against the top of the barrier and collapsed back down again before a whirlwind of flame slowly spiraled up like a small tornado. There was no heat however, no more than the fire had given before.

As the tornado grew it began to take shape and became more defined. Seraph appeared!

FPRIVATE "TYPE=PICT;ALT= - "

Unfortunately for him, he was only about 6 inches tall and had a voice like you would expect from a small kitten.

*Why have I been brought here! I demand to know who has disturb-...oh! It's you! Not still sore about that little mishap last time are you?*

[ March 02, 2008, 03:53 PM: Message edited by: Thumpy ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 02, 2008 04:12 PM :

Jeannie felt the relief course through her when Lilah was freed from the circle and Patrick took control. As he began the instruction of his apprentice Jeannie looked down at the small blue man who had tried so relentlessly to break the barrier, although she suspected this was less to do wiht helping anyone than it was to do with being able to break something.

"So..erm...I'm Jeannie and you are?"

She asked as though small blue men appearing in the forest of Uberwald was a normal, ordinary occurance...

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 02, 2008 05:15 PM :

Jock became aware that someone was talking to him, and the voice sounded like that of his kelda. he dragged himself away from the barrier reluctantly, still staring at the aparitions that had energed, and answered, obviously still determined to fight something, even if the barrier was indestructable.

"ach, Crivens had ah known there was a door, ah coud ha' save meself a lo' o trouble. now jeannie, could ye tell me th' nature of yon wee firebeastie, ah cannae kill i' if ah hae no knowin o' it's nature. an' them dragons, ah woud sorely like to mess wi' one o' them. you had a question? ah yes, ah be Smaller-Than-Wee-Jock-Jock, bu' since Wee-Jock wen' back to th' land o' the livin ah be Jock. noo le' me past an' le' me a' them dragons"

Jock proceded past jeannie, striding as far as his tiny legs would reach and striking a noble pose. this was spoiled somewhat by the fact that, when he reached the door it had gone, and he walked headfirst into the barrier.

'noo, tha's just unsportin'. an' the wee lass in there shouln' be wi' them firbeastie and dragon-folk. ah saw a dragon once and i' took three haids to take i' oot. lemme in you scuggan"

[ March 02, 2008, 05:19 PM: Message edited by: Jock ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 02, 2008 05:42 PM :

Despite her recent dark mood Jeannie couldn't help but smile at Jock and the somewhat comical collision. She sat down on the damp earth that was covered by dry leaves, ignoring the wetness that permeated through her trousers.

"It's ok, the man is a wizard and the girl is his apprentice. They are perfectly safe."

She resisted the urge to pick up the small man and move him away from the barrier, he seems pretty indestructible, but then she reasoned if she was only 6 inches high she would have to be fairly tough to survive.

"So, if you don't mind me asking, what are you?"

It was a blunt question but she got the feeling that was the best sort of question when it came to this unquashable little being...


	7. Chapter 7

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on March 02, 2008 05:54 PM :

Twilight reluctantly let the child go and shifted back into her cat form as Mina followed Patrick inside of the barrier. She watched intently as the dragons were sommoned. Nothing could break her concentration of watching the wizard at work, unless of course alleycat instincts are triggered at the sight of a small blue figure running by.

As soon as Jeannie had gotten it to stop moving, Twilight pounced and started playfully batting at it, as she had always done when she was a kitten and played with mice. Apparently, enjoying herself immensly, the human part of her mind hadn't had time to process just what the thing was, as her true mind had taken over and the only word that was surfacing was 'prey'

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 02, 2008 06:33 PM :

Lilah noticed the look on Patricks face. He found the whole situation funny. Anger replaced terror, and then the fire erupted. Wow it was hot. She pushed up hard against the barrier, vowing that someone would die for this. Most likely her, but still... the fire subsided, and Lilah saw Patrick draw a door on the barier, offering her an escape. She stuck her hand through first, wanting to make sure there was actually an exit there, which to her relief, there was.

Finally free, she mentally kicked herself for having got so scared. That wasnt like her. But then, she'd never trusted, or liked magic. It had a LOT to answer for. Then she saw the little blue man.

"Ohh no." Feegles were painful. She'd had run ins with them before, and if she'd never seen one again that would have been too soon.

Deciding not to make a scene over the whole magic barrier incident, Lilah grabbed her pack, went and sat away from the group and started sharpening her sword. This time she didnt get lost in thought, instead watching, waiting, for some sort of attack...

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 02, 2008 06:50 PM :

Samson woke up. Man did he have a headache. Samosn clutched his head and groaned. He really couldn't remember that much. except... oh god he told Lilah he cared about her. Great. He didn't mean to tell her. He looked at the clearing and saw Lilah looking panicked. Before He could do anything occulet fire burst around Lilah. Samson stood up quickly but clutched his head in pain again. When his vision cleared he saw Lilah sittin against a rock. Without thinking Samson ran into the clearing. past his dad. Past Twilight and Mina. but on the way to Lilah, Samson tripped over a small blue object. Samson skidded towards Lilah and stopped at her feet. Samson scrammbled up and grabbed Lilah's hands

"Are you okay?"

He noticed her shocked look and everybody elses.

"What?"

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 02, 2008 10:53 PM :

Samson landed at her feet, then grabbed her hands. She was in shock, but only for a second.

"i'm ok" she said, in resopnse to his question, then she wrenched him to his feet and threw him against a tree, holding her sword against his throat. He seemed surprised

"dont look at me like that, i did warn you it'd be like this. Why'd you come back? You shouldnt be here, its too dangerous having you around"

She didnt trust him. HE couldnt possibly have fought off the client successfully...could he?

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 03, 2008 03:43 AM :

Whatever Jocks response was to Jeannies question it was drowned out by the crashing of the undergrowth, Samson emerged and approached Lilah. Jeannie put her head in her hands and rolled her eyes, were they _ever_ going to get to rest? Even Jeannies usual stamina was waning, the group needed to eat and sleep before they could carry on.

Sighing, Jeannie jumped up to her feet trying to ignore the rumbling growl that escaped from her stomach, she was ravenous and if it took much longer she would eat those damn rabbits, cooked or not. Nodding in satisfaction at the sound of Samson being slammed in to the tree Jeannie walked over and stood besides Lilah. Once Lilah had spoken to Samson Jeannie stepped forward, Samson didn't smell right. The alien scent rankled her, he dared to come here? He dared to approach them?!

Without warning her fist connected with Samsons stomach, and a malicious grin appeared on her lips at the whoof sound of air being expelled from his lungs, she leant forward so she was inches from his face

" Hurt does it? Well I can hurt you plenty more than that, I can take you apart in a way that you will be alive until the very last moment, your heart will be the very last thing I rip out! Get out of here...now!"

The last few words were pretty much snarled at him, he was a very real danger to the group and Jeannie would protect the group as any wolf protects it's pack. Her words were no idle threat, the fury in her eyes was plain to see. The rage also got her inner wolfs full attention, it fed on the anger and she could feel her body wanting to change. Jeannie fought it back her head faced down towards the ground, her breathing becoming heavier, but the faintest orange glow in her eyes betrayed the inner struggle as she looked back up at Samson. Her fists bunched at her sides she managed to hiss one final threat through clenched teeth

"Leave...here...NOW!"

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 03, 2008 03:56 AM :

Jock was a little taken aback when a cat came and tried to catche him. putting on a burst of speed he circled the cat and ran straight inti it's forehead, headfirst. Hearing a crash behind him, Jock whipped round in time to catch Jeannie thump another man in the stomach

"Crivens! a guid fight a' last! FEEGLES!"

Jock charged into the man as his war cry thundered across the clearing, again headfirst, and then continued to dart his way about the man, dealing blows all over his body before finally headbutting his forehead.

"Ach, ah've no' had this much fun since ... well ah cannae ken when!"

By now the headbutting and fighting had caused excessive amounts of adrenaline to course through Jock's body and he was steeling himself for another fight. The first to move would feel his head and his teeth...

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on March 03, 2008 04:12 AM :

"Be easy Seraph or I shall introduce you to one of the guardians in a very unfriendly manner."

The fire elemental looked briefly over the shoulder of the wizard before him and decided to remain civil. He could not however resist opening his mouth.

*Fine, human - what is it that you want? I have many worlds to keep and many demands of my time.*

Looking for the first time at young Mina, Seraph appeared genuinely shocked.

*Who is this little one? Why is she here? You have never had another in this circle before!"

Patrick gestured toward Mina, but never took his eyes off the spirit. "She is my apprentice. One day she will be my teacher. Seraph, this is Mina - I suggest that you learn her voice well; she will be calling upon you frequently if I am right."

*What? This human...girl...child? How does she-* Seraph dimmed slightly as he studied Mina sitting before him. *She's not like you wizard. She's...something else entirely. Too much.*

Sparks flew off the little form of fire as he became more agitated.

"I brought you here today to introduce you to her Seraph, it is not your place or mine to say what will happen."

*Fine. You have proved once again that you can perform magic. Well done oh mighty wizard. I must come when called surely, but I am not compelled to pledge loyalty to any human.*

There was a moment of disturbance outside of the magic circle and Patrick looked away to see what was going on. Samson was in the clearing, speaking to Lilah; the wizard was not about to close the circle as long as he was this close.

*You appear to have more trouble on your hands human than even you can deal with. I sense two evils among you; one is known, the other not as much. Beware your sleeping hours.*

"Mina, I think we are done with Seraph for the moment. He has actually been more civilized this time around than at any other time. I think he likes you."

Patrick showed Mina how to release Seraph back to the underworld and as the fire returned to normal, they turned their attention to what was happening outside the barrier.

"I think it would be better if we sat just a minute longer my little witch."

_"Two evils, one known - one not as much." I guess he meant the box - which we know about....'Beware your sleeping hours.' _

His interest in the Feegle that had suddenly turned up was great, but he could not take his eyes off of Samson. Keeping his voice calm and even, Patrick reminded Mina about the difference between the guardians witnessing the ritual or guarding the circle.

"Mina, please ask our dragon friends to 'guard'."

As she did so, the guardians turned their attention outwards.....

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 03, 2008 06:07 AM :

The effort of resisting the change was apparent on Jeannies face, her skin was covered in beads of sweat and her eyes still held the dim glow that came with intense fury. She grabbed Samson by his clothes and effortlessly picked him up of the ground...admittedly due to her rather petit fram this wasn't more than an inch or two off the ground but was fairly impressive non the less. This didn't seem to hinder Jock who was assaulting every possible place on Samson

"Last chance, leave or die!"

Wether he was actually scared of her or not was not easy to tell, if the 'client' had control of him he was probably much harder to kill than an average human, but that didn't seem to enter Jeannies head in her mists of fury. He seemed to get the message though and nodded imperceptibly, Jeannie released him and stood poised her chest heaving with the effort of not letting her morphic field do what it wanted to do. The struggle with Andre back in the caves and the bloody kill that had resulted seemed to have given the wolf strength, Jeannie was having to really fight to keep her usual control. Thankfully her stubborness kept her inner wolf at bay. She backed off, to try and cool the urge to step up her threats. Jock carried on, obviously happy with having a large target.

She shook her head to free it of the black thoughts. She turned away, and saw the dragons turning towards them....

[ March 03, 2008, 06:40 AM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 03, 2008 06:52 AM :

Lilah backed off slightly when Jeannie stepped in, and it was lucky for samson that she did. The unconcious response of doubling over when jeannie hit him the guts would've left her sword buried in his throat.

The sight of the Feegle headbutting Samson was slighly amusing, but irritating at the same time. She swatted at Jock, knocking him off Samson.

She saw that Jeannie seemed to have trouble keeping herself under control, so she was kind of glad when Jeannie stepped away, uttering her threat.

"I think she means it, Samson. And i meant what i said earlier."

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on March 03, 2008 08:38 AM :

OOC: Please do not guide this characters actions

IC:

He had not travelled a great distance, this pack seemed to move slowly and their trail was easy to follow. Still once he drew closer to where they camped he grew weary and his pace slowed. From cubhood he had been taught stealth and now his pack leader had told him to seek out one of the man/wolf creatures which forced him to reveal himself.

Looking up he saw the sky was clear but it was dark the great light that lit the night was gone, this did not make him panic as he knew it would return soon enough. Laying his ears back in displeasure he emerged from his hiding place, still downwind he moved closer until he was a respectable distance and gave a short howl. It was clear, liquid sound and obviously close by to anyone within the camp. The wolf was not especially large and he appeared lean with dappled fur of grey and black as though he had stayed too long beneath a tree and the impression of it had never left him. Knowing there was nothing more to be done he sat upon his haunches and waited for some response.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 03, 2008 08:46 AM :

Patrick and Mina were obviously controlling the dragon guardians, it didn't look as though Samson would hurt Lilah and the tiny newcomer known as Jock was able to look after himself. Jeannie backed away, still struggling to stay on top of her urges. She kept going until she was once again surrounded by trees. She stayed within earshot of the clearing, just incase they needed her.

Panting a little less now and her eyes faded back to their normal blue colour Jeannie leant up against a tree and let her legs give way, she slid down against the rough bark until she was sat on the damp forest floor with her knees bent up infront of her. Folding her arms across her legs she rested her chin and focused on calming the inner wolf. It must have been the fight with Andre she reasoned, she hadn't cut loose like that for a long time and the wolf had liked the small taste of freedom. Since then it had been that little bit stronger, the blood lust a little more tempting. Of course the stress and exhaustion of the past few days wasn't exactly helping her to stay calm either, the running and the fighting. The danger, the worry...so much had happened...

As her thoughts drifted Jeannie eyes began to close, she snapped herself awake but the sleep overcame her again. Finally her body succumbed to the desperate need for sleep. A little way away from the clearing where the clearing was lit by firelight Jeannie dozed against the tree hidden in the shadows of the nightime forest....

A howl jerked her out of her sleep, as her head shot up she banged it against the hard tree trunk behind her

"Ow! Damn it!"

She stood up, brushing away the leaf litter that clung to her trousers. Jeannie rubbed the back of her head, then looking around to make sure no-one was watching she changed, her wolf body much better equipped for dealing with a pitchblack forest. The howl seemed to summon her so she replied with a short howl of her own and headed straight for it, making sure to cross through the campsite on her way so the group would know the howls were not a threat of danger and that she was investigating.....

[ March 03, 2008, 08:48 AM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on March 03, 2008 11:11 AM :

The strangely pelted wolf watched as Jeannie drew nearer, he did not stand nor seem alarmed by her approach, he merely remained calm and still, waiting quite patiently for her arrival. Once Jeannie had drawn close the difference in their sizes was glaringly obvious, the male was smaller, slighter, a body in essence built for speed rather than brute force. He was force to look up slightly to look at her, but he was careful not to make direct eye contact.

_Hello bigger sister, I have followed the tracks of your pack._

His tone was polite and dignified, it seemed that even sitting upon his haunches he was graceful, there was no ounce of fat on him.

_One's pack leader asked one to find the pack who left the man things pack place. Are you the leader of this pack?_

The wolf cocked his head to one side, his liquid amber eyes seeming to convey a great patience. It was clear that this wolf was not that old, but it was clear that he already mastered the skill of waiting.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 03, 2008 11:15 AM :

Samson layed on the ground in complete agony. after a punch to the gut by a werewolf and being brutlly attacked by somekind of fariy even Samson's pain surppresion wasn't working. All Samson could get out was

"What...What did i do?"

Before Broc slammed him up against the tree.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 03, 2008 11:46 AM :

Jeannie listened carefully to the wolf, and there was a short pause whilst she worked out the strange method of speech.

She stayed standing, her large paws crunching on the debris of the forest floor and looked back towards the clearing which glowed faintly with the orange light of the fire. The sounds and voices of the others floated over occasionally. The leader of the pack? She realised that she probably would be counted as the Alpha from the wolf point of view. She was the watch sergeant who was assigned to protect the group...Alphas protected their packs. Her reply was therefore a simple one...

_Yes_

Jeannie stayed as she was and waited to see what the young wolf wanted of her...

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on March 03, 2008 12:14 PM :

The wolf came to his feet gracefully the and bobbed his head once more, making sure to keep his body lower than hers, which to be truthful was unnecessary as even standing at his full height, he still fell short of Jeannie.

_One's pack leader has been sent to tell you that we have a member of your pack. That one was injured and his wounds were tended. He was not please when our pack leader kept him from leaving, but if he had he surely would have fallen into the long sleep. He has healed quickly and travels to meet you, but he still cannot move as swiftly as one._

The last statement was said with a mere hint of pride.

_Your wounded packmate will not catch you if you continue the pace you set. If you slow your pack he will meet with you at this time when the disk of fire has risen and fallen in the sky._

Once again he fell silent and watched the larger female's reaction.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 03, 2008 01:07 PM :

Jeannie couldn't believe it, was this wolf talking about Jake? Jake was alive? She had dreaded the worst when he disappeared, there had been times where she wanted to send out a howl and find out what had happened to him but something always stopped her...The illusion of pretending he was alive and out there somewhere was much more appealing than being told the awful truth if the worst had happened. But from the sounds of it he was not only alive but coming to them...

Finally she realised that the messenger wolf was still patiently waiting for her to respond. She looked down at him

_Thankyou, we'll wait for him. I'm grateful for your message_

Her solemn countenance was belied by her tail which was now happily wagging, She turned to go back to the clearing but stopped, smiled and turned back for a moment

_Please tell him Jeannie will be very happy to see him_

And with that she turned and bounded back towards the clearing...

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 03, 2008 06:14 PM :

Lilah stared in disbelief at Samson. " 'what did i do?' You honestly saying you dont remember? How on the disc do you forget what you've done?" He still looked confused. "You do remember that you've been working for the client, yes?" she said, speaking slowly. "You cant be trusted"

HE seemed confused, and in pain. The in pain made sense. "Let him down, Broc" she sighed. "Doubt he's capable of anything right now." But she held onto her sword, just in case.

[ March 03, 2008, 06:20 PM: Message edited by: adie ]

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on March 03, 2008 07:35 PM :

Twilight staggered around in circles, her eyes spinning in her head..or was it the world that was spinning? Ugh, it actually feels like it could be both

She was grateful when her legs showed her mercy and she fell to the ground. The weight on her legs suddenly sent an alarm running up through her spine, she weakley turned over onto her back, where she lay, whimpering quietly in pain

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 04, 2008 04:07 AM :

Jock was dissapointed. the fighting seemed to have stopped, and there was now a great deal of standing around being done. Jock tried to act casual and strike up a conversation with somebody. he sidled up to the girl who had been stuck inside the Magical barrier and smiled toothily.

"so, wha's a Bigjob like ye doin in this neck o' the woods, eh? an' tha' scunner we was fightin, where was he from?"

Jock had run out of thigs to say, so sat back and stared at the girl, hoping to scare her into submission. He had been reprimanded for this sort of thing back in the clan, but they were a long way from here so he waited and watched.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 04, 2008 05:03 AM :

Lilah paused for a moment, trying to translate what the Feegle had said. As for the look he was giving her...well, it might have been effective if he was 6 foot taller, but he wasnt. Still, feegles worried the hell out of her. They were more dangerous than they looked.

"Its complicated" she said, then noticed one of the cats laying on its back. "HEy!" she yelled, pointing. "Is anyone here a vet?"

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on March 04, 2008 05:13 AM :

Patrick watched with a mix of dread and interest as the group reacted to each of the recent arrivals; Jock was doing what feegles did best and Samson was still the unknown.

Turning his attention back to the spell, the wizard instructed Mina on the proper way to disperse the circle. He showed her how the hold the athame properly, thank the guardians for their time and patience and finally how to use the scattered salt as an offering.

"Once you've done all that and you feel ready, return your athame to its place, clean up anything else that you have left lying around - and then most importantly, eat something! Magic tends to drain the physical body as well as the mental, so eating and resting are still important - even for witches!"

As the two emerged from the ritual, Patrick placed more wood on the fire to prepare for cooking dinner. He had initially planned on performing the rite later, but the sudden arrival of the other zombies and then Samson had raised his alertness.

"Mina, I think Twilight could use some assistance. She seems to have run into our blue friend over there - or rather, he ran into her."

Patrick stood by the fire watching the group intently; he would finish getting dinner ready for them, but he was also wary. Before Jeannie had left there had been another howl, close by.

_It would be a bit easier knowing who was our friend and who was the en.....Who is this Client anyway?_

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 04, 2008 06:25 AM :

By the time Jeannie had located her clothes, changed, dressed and returned to the campsite it seemed the situation had diffused. Looking around at everyone Jeannie smilied and walked over to the camp fire. She could smell the rabbits cooking, it smelt like Patrick had rustled up a pretty good rabbit stew with some of the vegetables they had brough from the market, her mouth salivated at the wonderful aroma of hot cooked food. Mina was tending to Twilight and Lilah seemed to have Samson in hand.

Jeannie sat down by the fire, the reflections of the flames flickered and danced in her eyes as she watched the others. Patrick was sat not far from her, tending to the dinner. He looked slightly wary as he looked around the clearing. Jeannie sat a while longer listening to the pop and crackle of the firewood as the flames consumed it. She picked up a stick and poked it in the flames then held it up infront of her watching it burn like a tiny sun against the black backdrop of the forest, it seemed such a long time until the next sunset

"Patrick, I've just been give a message. We have to slow our pace down for a while, aslong as it is safe to do so of course..."

When Patrick gave her an enquiring look Jeannie smiled

"Is that stew ready yet? I explain things better on a full stomach"

The stew was served, Jeannie literally wolfed it down. Having a full belly and no longer worrying about Jakes fate put Jeannie in a relaxed mood, she leant back against a convienient log and stretched, not even bothering to stifle the yawn that escaped her.

"Patrick, that was probably the best rabbit stew ever cooked anywhere on the disc"

Shifting to get comfortable she told him what the messenger had told her. She yawned again, soon it would be time to sleep, but she would take the first guard duty...

[ March 04, 2008, 07:40 AM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 04, 2008 10:42 AM :

Samson had thankfully passed out from the pain.

He woke up when someone threw water on him. spluttering, Samson sat up and looked around. He noticed Broc standing behind him holding a bucket. Samson stood up and looked around.

"anybody else want to hit me?"

Broc cold clocked Samson across his chin.

"Not anymore" Broc growled.

Samson spit out some blood

"will somebody tell me whats going on. I can't remember a thing. All i know is that in the past few minutes ive had a sword held to my throat, been pummeled by a werewolf and attacked by a small blue man."

He gave Lilah a pleading look.

"Please, you gotta help me out here."

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 04, 2008 02:29 PM :

((does that first sentence make sense? It did in my head but i'm not so sure now))

Jock was disheartened by the continuing lack of anything to fight, and the reaction that the lass he had tried to talk to had had. He had been worked up into a good battle fury, but it had subsided just as soon when the fight was quickly over.

Jock could see that Jeannie was the Kelda of this mismatched clan, so decided that the way in was through her. Jock raced over to where she was sitting and sat on her shoulder, before getting down again and simply sitting beside her, painfully aware of how it would look, a Nac Mac Feeglle sitting on somebody's shoulder like some kind of...pet. Jock peered at the rabbits dangling over the fire, and then to the skins. There was a large white spot on one, that looked suspiciously like the spot he had seen on the rabbits taken in the forest by the wolf. Jock was from the Ramtops, and werewolves were rarely seen there, and were treated with suspicion. Jock jumped up and waved at jeanie, hoping to warn her of this threat, but she seemed oddly distracted.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 04, 2008 02:50 PM :

Jeannie was leant back on the log with her eyes closed, when she heard Broc thump Samson, she smiled but didn't open her eyes as she spoke to the, by now quite battered, young man

"I'm too full to kill you right now, I suggest you take the headstart and get out of here while you still can"

She didn't believe his story of not remembering what had happened but he didn't seem like an immediate threat so Jeannie stayed where she was enjoying a rare moment of comparative peace, the forest around the clearing sang with the noises of the nightime insects and creatures. The moon dissapeared often behind huge dark clouds that seemed to swallow the lunar body making the forest seem even blacker. Jeannie would have probably begun to doze again but she was awakened from the pre-sleep fog by a small weight on her shoulder, by the time she had turned her head to look whatever it was had gone. That was impressive, Jeannies reactions were vey fast and whatever it was had moved even faster!

A movement besides her got her attention, Jock was waving. Stretching and arcing her back, Jeannie rubbed her face then relaxed and turned towards the small man to see what it was he wanted...

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 04, 2008 03:12 PM :

Seeing he had got Jeannie's attention, Jock stopped waving

"ach, whoever brought them rabbit is a WEREWOLF jeannie. they're awful beasties and they can kill ye, jus' like tha'." the Feelge stopped and thought about this "well, ah could too, bu' ah'm no' going to, a werewolf woul' as soon kill ye as look a' ye"

Jock looked around the clearing, half expecting to see the wolf change there and then and pounce on them. he wouldn't have minded as it would have been a chance for a real fight, but he didn't want to be caught unawares. he looked back to jeannie to see who she looked at as the culprit.

[ March 04, 2008, 03:14 PM: Message edited by: Jock ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 04, 2008 03:42 PM :

Jeannie was halfway through another yawn when Jock mentioned the werewolf, the istinctive intake of breath that came with being shocked meant she was trying to breath in and out at the same time and consequently ended up half-choking on air. By the time she had regained her composure tears were streaming down her cheeks and she had gone an interesting shade of red with purple undertones

"A...werewolf? Really? And how excatly did you work that out?"

Jock proudly told her about the rabbit with the white spot, the exact same pelt that was currently next to their campfire

_Damn it! Should have been more careful...hold on, what am I thinking? The guy is 6inches high! How could I expect that?_

She looked around at the others then back down at the defiant little Jock, Jeannie sighed. This was always the awkward bit, you just never knew how people were going to react. She decided that for know he didn't need to know the _whole truth_

"Jock, there is a werewolf in the group yes, but it won't kill you or any one it's travelling with ... I can promise you that"

Deciding a swift change of subject was in order she sat forward

"So Jock, what are you doing all the way out here in the middle of Uberwald? And..well, to put it bluntly...what _are_ you?"

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 04, 2008 04:07 PM :

" ach, well ah was flyin aboot on ma pigeon when ah...erm..." Jock held his hands behind his back and looked at the floor before looking up again and exclaming wildly "Weel the pigeon, it was reeealy annoyin, wha' wi' all tha' cooin it does, an' a dinnae ken why a nutted bird plummets to the ground like tha'!!" his pace slowed again "an then ah smelt the fire and ye ken tha rest. as for wha' ah am" his chest swelled visibly "ah'm a Nac Mac Feegle o' the high road clan, the wildest, fiercest drunkest..ah mean mightiest...clan aboot!"

Jock paced around them as he spoke, and when his chest swelled his feet almost left the floor. for such a small man, even by feegle standards, he had a remarkably loud voice, and the clearing rang with his voice, making everybody look.

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on March 04, 2008 04:23 PM :

Twilight awoke to the smell of the rabbits cooking on the fire and looked around until her eyes came to rest upon Jock, who was now exictedly talking to Jeannie

_Damn, I should have known that those little blue freaks would be running around out here, oh, well, I'll just have to remember for_ next _time_

Just staying by Mina for the moment, Twilight watched the feegle with the glare of the predator stalking its prey, her eyes following the small blue man's every movement, for now, just biding her time

[ March 04, 2008, 04:25 PM: Message edited by: Blazing Moon ]

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 04, 2008 05:38 PM :

Lilah wondered where broc had got the bucket of water from, then realised that was a stupid thing to wonder about, especially since it meant Samson had woken up. HE got hit again, and then started spitting blood. And he looked so pathetic, asking her what had happpened.

_aw, hell_

"What do you remember, Samson?" she moved closer to him, despite Brocs warning look. "Me, obviously. but anything else? From what ive seen over the past day, you've successfully pissed off everyone here."

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 04, 2008 07:10 PM :

Samson looked at Lilah pleadingly.

"Not much. just that...i really care about you. Everything else is just a blur."

Now that the his constant beating had ended somthing Lilah had said registered.

"What?!? Me work for the Client. Never! Look i just want to help you guys then well...you...me."

Samson went into a emmberassed silence.

Broc stepped foward, Samson winced. Broc stared into Samson's eyes.

Broc turned away and walked over to Jeannie and took a seat infront of her.

"should we let him stay. I'll keep an eye on him. Your choice. You're the leader"

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 05, 2008 04:48 AM :

Lilah didnt respond to Samsons admission that he cared. She didnt want to think about it till this was all over, til she'd killed the client, and was sure that Samson was only Samson.

"MAybe not willingly" Lilah replied in response to Samsons denial about the client. "But you were. I'm not lying to you. And whether you remember or not, hes still got a hold of you. He's not succeeded in what he's doing, and he doesnt give up his pawns while they're still useful. You know this, you've heard the stories."

She also sunk into silence, hers an awkward one, as she also ignoreed his final comment. As much as she believed that he didnt remember, she knew she couldnt trust him. She had no doubts the client still had his tentacles into Samon, watching, waiting, for the right time to attack.

"What would you do if our roles were reversed?" she finally said. "I know that if i was in your position, i wouldnt be staying with people i've tried to kill. Especially when the clients involved."

[ March 05, 2008, 04:57 AM: Message edited by: adie ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 05, 2008 07:49 AM :

Jeannie sat looking at Broc infront of her, the look in his eyes was completely earnest. She looked over at the confused looking Samson, at Lilah looking wary then back at the pleading Broc. She weighed up the situation in her mind

_No, he can't stay...he's too much of a danger...but maybe it's better to have him where we can keep an eye on him...but who can tell when this client will exercise it's control on the man?...I have a duty to protect these people...we can't risk him getting hold of the box...Why the hell is it up to me anyway!?_

But someone had to make the tough decisions, she sighed and slowly shook her head

"I'm sorry Broc, he can't stay. He's too much of a risk...Please, get him out of here. I don't want to hurt him, he's your son, but I _will_ do what ever is needed to protect the others. I'm sure you understand?"

Brushing her hair back with both hands Jeannie stood up, the fire was still giving off a welcome warmth that made this clearing seem somehow safer than if the fire wasn't there. She felt the exhaustion hit her all at once, yawned again and looked back at Broc

"Once he's gone I want you to do the first guard duty, zombies don't need to rest but werewo...." she rememeberd the curious little feegle who was not so far away form them and corrected herself

"...but I do. I suggest everyone gets some rest as soon as possible. We've got another long day tomorrow"

And wiht that Jeannie began to walk across the clearing to one of the small crude tents they had set up as a minimal protection from the elements...

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on March 05, 2008 01:23 PM :

Patrick had taken in the news from Jeannie and was trying to work out the balance of slowing down versus getting the job done as quickly as possible.

_Slow down, but do it quickly?_

The wizard was glad Jeannie liked his rabbit stew; he had never made it before and the recipe was actually for squirrel, but she didn't need to know that.

He made sure that there was enough for everyone and watched as Mina tended to Twilight.

The Feegle was going to be either an asset or trouble; he hoped the little guy could at least direct his excitement towards any enemy they may encounter.

Hearing Jeannie and Broc talk about Samson brought him down just a bit. Samson had been too unpredictable and even though he had saved the life of the wizard, he had also brought great danger to the group.

But, as the stew took effect and he relaxed more, Patrick took in the background sounds of the woods, the life flowing through it and the stars beginning to shine more brightly overhead. He loved moments like this and unfortunately they came to few these days.

_It'll be good to have Jake back._

Resting his back against the tree, Patrick folded his hands into his robes, pulled his hat down lower and just....watched.

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on March 05, 2008 02:17 PM :

Orcakeline took a pass forward to the fire and tasted some stew.

"Mhm..This tastes work."

The dwarf ate all the bowl with rabbit stew and noticed the little blue creature.

"Hey,who're you?!"

The dwarf took a step backwards and starred at the Nac Mac wasn't normal to SEE blue little things running sure wasn't was probably rubbed her eyes but kept seeing the blue sure wasn't part of the universal small blue things running around.

Orcakeline stood there awaiting for an answer.

She saw Samson while dreaming with her eyes open about the little blue creatures was HE of all things doing here?

But right when she was day-night dreaming she heard a voice...

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 05, 2008 03:11 PM :

Encasing herself inside the tiny canvas space Jeannie pushed her pack up to one end to use as a makeshift pillow, she wrapped her long leather cape around her to keep out the chill and after shifting around for a bit she found a position she was comfortable in. Jeannie settled down for some much needed rest. She was soon lulled into a deep sleep by the forest sounds, the occasional howl by the forests resident wolves causing her to twitch in her sleep, her long hair cascaded in all directions over her pack and she breathed softly...dreaming, mumbling occasionally, the hours went by as she rested...

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 06, 2008 04:01 AM :

Jock was aware that he was being spoken to again, but when he turned around he was surprised. The voice had been female, but the apparition before him was most defenitly ale, what with all the armor and such.

"Crivens, do ah hav to say i' all again? ach weel, ahm a Nac Mac Feegle o' the high road clan by th name o' Smaller-than-wee-jock-Jock, but yous can call me Jock. noo ah cannae think no more wi'out some sleep" this was partly true, but seeing Jeannie make herself comfortable was the turning point in his decision. A wish to fit in was paramount in jock's mind, as he had the distinct feeling that they were on a Quest, and Jock had never done one of those.

With that thought, he went to the edge of the clearing and found a rabbit hole, rushed back to the fire to grab a smouldering twig, and placed it inside, before finally curling up against the curve of the tunnel wall.

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on March 06, 2008 04:46 AM :

Patrick watched as the others prepared to rest for the night and had to admit that he was feeling a bit tired himself. The problem was that he couldn't bring himself to get up from his spot by the tree; he had become comfortable there and he just didn't want to have to stand up.

The wizard had thought about asking the Feegle why he was out and about on his own...unless the rest of the clan was hiding somewhere nearby.

Patrick looked over to Orcakeline and asked, "So, what do you think of our little quest so far? Enough excitement for one dwarf?" He knew she missed her friend back in AM, but also knew that she was loyal to the group of travellers.

_If I didn't have to be here, I think I'd have stayed back in the city. Living at the University wasn't great, but at least we weren't being chased by zombies, wolves and who-knows-what every other day._

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 06, 2008 04:16 PM :

In the small tent Jeannie stirred, her eyes blinking during those first moments upon awakening from deep sleep when everything is just slightly disorientated. Having remembered who she was and what she was doing here she reached her arms up above her head, her cape falling away from around her as she stretched. Jeannie sat up and rubbed her face, yawning as she did so. She poked her head out of the tent, she must have been asleep for a while, the colour of the night sky was fading to a dark pre-dawn purple and the fire was a heap of smoldering embers

Hearing no sounds she assumed the others were all still resting so she crawled out and stood up. Picking up the water bottles that lay next to her tent Jeannie went to look for a suitable water source to refill their water supply, hopefully she could have a good wash too. As she walked away noiselessly into the forest she was unaware of a pair of eyes that watched her disappear into the trees

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 06, 2008 05:10 PM :

Waiting for Samsons answer, and he seemed to be thinking quite hard, Lilah took a moment to look around the camp. Most of the group were asleep, or at least in a tent, and the fire was getting low. There appeared to be no stew left, much to her dismay.

Broc was still sitting opposite where JEannie had been, and he was staring at the fire, looking like the dead more now than ever.

She yawned, suddenly feeling really tired. This was the first time she'd really stopped since being taken by the ferals, so her need to sleep was catching up on her. NOt that she'd get it, not out here. Not when HE was around to mess up her dreams. The bastard was trying to take her back, make her his. But he would see her again, she was sure, right up to the point where she killed him, revenge for what he did to her, and what he did to Samson.

"well, samson?" she finally said. "I need an answer."

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on March 06, 2008 05:54 PM :

The ever awakened Orcakeline didn't go to took a short night-stroll,like she used to do back in Ankh-Morpork.

The woods looked like a museum,a colony of of them put together,one after another formed a river of colors!All the funny colored leaves formed a color carpet.

It looked too good to be true!The dwarf just couldn't hold took a step towards the her foot stepped in mid air.

She heard a small growl.

"Hey!Who's there?"Whispered Orcakeline.

The dwarf starred into the forest darkness,not into the colorful part and saw a pair of yellow eyes.

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on March 06, 2008 05:54 PM :

Twilight layed with young Mina until she was sure that the girl was asleep, when she sat up and wandered over to the coach and hopped inside

Nova was sitting on the seat and staring up at the moonlight. Nostalgia washed over Twilight in a great wave. One of the most vivid memories of her past was watching the moonlight dance on his mismatched eyes on long nights as he guarded over her. he suddenly took notice of her for the first time and smiled

_"I'm thinking that I may head back to the city, tonight, sister,"_ he said in feline. Twilight gaped

_"What, already?"_ she said

_"You know I can't stay here,"_ Nova went on, _"This is werewolf country, if they pick up anymore of a cat's scent, who knows how long they'll wait beofore they pounce?"_ Twilight nodded in solemn agreement, and together, the two alleycats walked out and not to far from the clearing where the group was resting. They sat together for a few moments before Twilight hugged her brother

_"Be safe, my brother,"_ she said, Nova nodded

_"You just promise to bring my little sister back to Anhk-Morpork, allright?"_ Now, Twilight nodded, and with that, Nova turned and ran into the deep trees, on his way home

With a heavy heart, Twilight dragged herself back to camp and layed down once again by the sleeping Mina, small tears making the fur around her eyes damp, and she slipped into sleep

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 06, 2008 08:09 PM :

Samson looked at the ground then at his father. finally he met Lilah's eyes. He knew what he had to do. in one quick movment he yanked out his sword and handed it to Lilah, handle first.

"Here, take it. Pure silver."

In another fluid movement, he stepped closer to Lilah and before she could do anything pulled her into a quick kiss. after breaking it off, Samson flashed her a quick smile then sprinted off into the forrest.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 07, 2008 03:52 AM :

Leaves rustled under her feet as Jeannie walked, after a ten minute walk she found what she was looking for. A small but fairly deep stream flowed through the forest, the water looked fresh and clean so she filled up the water bottles and set each one down on the ground behind her. Next, she unhooked her cape and let it fall to the ground. Jeannie knelt down and leant forward over the stream, cupping her hands she filled them with water and splashed the icy cold water over her face. Water droplets sparkled in the first rays of sunlight that were beginning to permeate through the trees as they fell from her hands back to the source where they came from, a twig cracked somewhere in the trees. Jeannies head whirled around, her face still dripping with water, no scents met her nose but then again in human form her nose wasn't as accurate

_Probably just a rabbit or something_

She told herself, not believing herself for a second. Picking up her cape and refastening it around her shoulders she picked up the water bottles and began to walk back to the camp, scanning the trees for any thing that may be a cause for concern. The hidden pair of eyes still watched her, the owner was staying carefully downwind of her and was so silent in their pursuit that Jeannie was oblivious to her unseen watcher as it watched her return to the camp site, put the water bottles down and build up the fire ready to make some breakfast. If she had have been aware of the mystery observer she would have wondered why it was simply watching her and not posing a threat...

Something made Jeannies skin tingle, a scent met her nostrils. Faint yet unmistakable...silver. Someone in the camp had silver? Oh nice, that was real trusting! Yeah, let's go on a quest with a werewolf but hey, don't forget the one weapon thats sure to kill her! Okay, so she was probably overreacting but she hadn't forgotten her near brush with death courtesy of that spies silver dagger. Instinctively her hand went to the place on her chest where the scar sat, ugly and red against the fair tones of her skin.

_It's okay, I can trust these guys right? Having silver is a sensible precaution in Uberwald, it's probably nothing personal..._

Intent on her thoughts Jeanie almost yelped when someone spoke to her...

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 07, 2008 07:10 AM :

Jock's rabbit hole was permeated with the smell of smoke when he awoke, and he was dismayed to find that the fire jeannie was building was downwind of him. Crawling out of his hole, he stretched and coughed violently before wandering over to the fire. Hardly anyone was up yet, so he dashed from tree to tree, working out his night-stiffness and stirring up clouds of dust. as he went...

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 07, 2008 08:37 AM :

Samson reached for his sword, and Lilah couldnt believe she hadnt seen it coming. She'd not even had time to move. Then he handed it to her, hilt first, telling her to take it. She did. Then he kissed her, smiled, and ran off. She'd not even had time to respond, to reciprocate the gesture. She wondered if sending him away was really the right thing to do. Maybe he really had escaped the client. All Lilah wanted was Samosn by her side. But she didnt go after him.

The sword he'd given her was interesting, she'd not seen it before. Pure silver was usless as a weapon in the normal sense, as it was too soft and would come up second best against steel, but being in werewolf country, it didnt matter so much.

She went back to the fire, which was almost dead, and pulled the dress she'd been wearing out of her pack. Lilah cut the skirt off it, which she used to wrap up the silver sword, hoping that would keep it undamaged...and hidden from Jeannie.

_time to try get some sleep..._

Lilah fell asleep almost immediately, laying there by the fire, her pack and weapons nearby. At first ,she slept the sleep of someone who had been awake for days; sleeping as if in a coma. But after a few hours, she drifted into a more normal sleep. Then the nightmares came.

Lilah woke up, gasping for air, ass if she was taking her first breath. The nightmares had never been that real, that intense before. It took her a moment to work out where she was. When Lilah got her bearings back, she saw Jeannie sitting on the other side of the fire, trying to get it going again.

"samsons gone." Lilah said, startling Jeannie, though the werewolf hid it well. "He left sometime last night. Agreed it was for the best."

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 07, 2008 03:11 PM :

Once she had got over the shock of Lilahs voice disturbing the tranquil morning silence, Jeannie nodded, she appreciated the way that Lilah was able to take the sensible choice despite the obvious influence her heart must have in the matter. In the short time Jeannie had known the woman her respect for her had grown enormously, she wasn't afraid to back down in a fight but had the brains to back up her choices. A worthy team member indeed

"That couldn't have been easy for you, I do understand that. But it was the right thing to do."

The fire began to flame again now, stoked with fresh dry wood, the embers caught it alight and Jeannie walked over to the food supply on the coach, rummaged around and pulled out a bag of oats and some milk that would have to be used before it began to turn. Although most of the food Jeannie had bought had been chosen specifically for being able to store well on a long journey she had also indulged in one or two shorter lifed items for them to consume on the first couple of days. Grabbing the cooking pot that had been scrubbed and left to dry after last night stew, she stirred the ingredients together and hung it over the fire on a make shift rod. She smiled at Lilah

"Give it a little while and we'll have a good hot porridge, we'll need the filling breakfast, it's going to be a long day. Hopefully a friend of mine will catch up with us at some point too, he's not too far behind from what I've been told"

Jeannie looked over at Lilah, she couldn't resist asking, she blamed the watchman part of her that was always taking notes and looking for the hidden facts.

"So, if you don't mind me asking...whats the deal with you and Samson? You known him for long?"

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 07, 2008 08:47 PM :

"IT wasnt easy. and i still feel like ive done the wrong thing."

Lilah sat up, staring hungrily at the food

"a while" she admitted. Jeannie was giving her the 'go on' look. Sighing, Lilah continued. "For ages, it was just business. We both seemed to end up working the same jobs, sometimes on the same side, sometimes not. Didnt take too long for us to realise we should work together. And everything just kind of...stemmed from there."

she helped herself to some of the porrige.

"he's everything to me because he's all ive got. No friends, no family....except for him."

she paused to eat.

"Dont judge him on his behaviour of late. When the client decides you're working for him, you dont get a choice in your behaviour."

The feegle doing laps of the clearing causght her attention, and she watched him for a while.

"And what about you?" she finally asked JEannie. "I know what you are, but you act like a watchman. interesting mix, really..."

[ March 07, 2008, 09:24 PM: Message edited by: adie ]

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 08, 2008 12:50 AM :

Samson walked through the forrest. His situation was getting worse and worse. What was he going to-  
Samson clutched his head. He fell to his knees. When he stood back up, it was clear the client had retaken controll.

" _We must fomulate a new plan_ "

Samson allowed a slow, evil, smile to spread across his face.

"I have one"

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 08, 2008 03:51 AM :

Jeannie smiled a half smile and stirred the porridge.

"An interesting mix huh? Well, you're right, I'm a watchman, a sergeant. I was assigned to protect Patrick on a mission, then Broc came with us then we picked up Mina after Patrick rescued her from life as a street urchin. The cats just kind of tagged along, we met the dwarf at the inn and then we met you. So I've gone from protecting one wizard to a whole bunch of you, of course my..." she glanced at Jock, being careful how she phrased her next sentence, the pictsie still didn't know her true nature "...specialised skills were the main reason I was chosen, plus I grew up here." She looked around her at the trees that surounded them, "Well not _here_ obviously, I mean I grew up in Uberwald. Although we are entering unfamiliar territory for me now"

The porridge was hot, thick and steaming now. Bubbles rose in the viscous mixture with a gloop sound. Jeannie slopped some into a bowl and handed it to Lilah, she thought for a moment, looked around and found a empty 'cup' from an acorn, it made a perfect feegle sized bowl so Jeannie filled it with porridge and gave it to Jock. She served some up for herself and the clearing was silent for a while as they ate. Once she had eaten her fill, Jeannie sighed contentedly and lent back on her hands, her legs crossed infront of her

"Once the others are up and fed we'll start to break camp, but I don't want to rush too quickly today. I want to give my friend a chance to catch up with us"

A bird called from the forest, Jeannies head snapped to her right to see a pheasant charge out of the undergrowth and across the camp. It looked startled, Jeannie didn't watch the bird though. She watched the trees it had come from to try and find the cause of it's panicked flight. A flicker of a shadow, the smallest glimpse of a furry tail. Her eyes narrowed, whatever it was, it was downwind. Coincidence? Unlikely. The occasional sound suggested that whatever it was had retreated, but Jeannie wasn't about to shrug it off, she stood up to investigate

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on March 08, 2008 11:52 AM :

Twilight woke up at the feel of a raindrop hitting her nose, she looked up at the clouds that had gathered around overhead, but her attention was quickly drawn to the pheasant that had just trotted past Jeannie

Twilight stared, wideyed as it ran past her, begging to herself, she turned and found Mina asleep, under the tree which was convienently protecting her from the new rain

_"Oh, Thank You!!"_ she called to whatever god might be listening at the moment, and turned and ran after the pheasant

She dashed after the bird into the trees and didn't realise how far she had gone until something made her stop and look up, letting the pheasant gain a lead. On his knees a few yards away was Samson. Stunned, she watched him get to his feet, and seemingly speak to himself. Twilight knew just what was going on, so she crouched down and hissed a warning to him, the hairs on her back now standing up

[ March 08, 2008, 11:54 AM: Message edited by: Blazing Moon ]

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 08, 2008 12:35 PM :

Jock sidled up to Lilah, as he had overheared her name to be, and held out the porridge in his acorn with disgust.

"wha' does jeannie think ah am? ah cannae eat this! am a meat eater, ah need some real vittels in the mornin, no' this slop." and with that he tipped the porridge into lilah's bowl and raced off into the forest to find some real food.

He ran for a full minute before he slowed. he could still smell the fire, so he shouldn't get too lost in the forest this time. he ran a little further, ensuring that there was still some indication of his direction, when he emerged into a clearing with a small hut. It was obviously deserted, but jock made to go in anyway to see if there had been any drink left lying around. Before he reached the threshold he heard a shout from above.

"crivens! it's Jock" said the faint voice, and jock looked up to see a pigeon, not unlike his own, circling down to the ground. the bird landed with a mad flutter to slow itself, causing the feegle on its back to fall of rather ungracefuly. Jock knew this feegle.

"Ach, Daveeeey." and jock ran at the feegle. the pigeon looked up to see jock coming towards it and promptly took off, faint memories of a previous encounter with another small blue man stirring in its hindbrain. Davey and Jock were oblivious, however. they were currently fightig each other ferociously, with no indication that they were brothers. when the fight finally ended, both feegles were panting, but Jocks eyes shone for the first time in days.

"them Bigjobs ken nout o' the fightin and the drinkin, they aint as strong as ye." Jock and Davey were both standing, but Jocks extremely small stature was now evident, Jock looked like a dwarf against Davey's full 6 inches.

"wha's tha' aboot bigjobs, jock. ha' ye' been gettin in there an boozin?"

"nae, they were fightin, so ah thought ah'd join in and then they gave me some rabbit stoo. but careful, they's got a werewolf."

Davey looked about for the pigeon and was dismayed to find it gone

"Ach, Crivens! mah transport's gone an left us"

"weel, yous can come back to the bigjobs wi' me. but first, ah meed some food, an ah think tha' hoose may ha' some booze in it" And with that, Jock rushed ino the house, Davey following closely behind at the prospect of a drink.

A search of the house found no alcohol, but a small badger had crawled in there, and they promptly dispatched it with a few well placed headbutts, and quite alot of unnecessary, but very fun, bitings and kickings. hefting up an end each, the short pair raced off back towards the camp, following Jocks unerring nose for smoke.

((Characters can do as they wish to Davey, but jock is all mine!!*cue manic laughter*)

[ March 08, 2008, 12:48 PM: Message edited by: Jock ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on March 08, 2008 01:38 PM :

Patrick stirred a bit as the rain started to fall and the smell of cooking porridge wafted by.

He was amazingly comfortable having slept under the tree all night and had barely moved a muscle. Sleep like that didn't come often.

A quick look around showed Mina to be asleep under cover of another tree and the rest going about their business.

_I'll let her sleep a little longer maybe._

The wizard was eager to get moving - they might reach his planned stop in Lancre tonight, late maybe. But, he also knew they were going to wait for Jake to catch up with them. He'd be glad to have him along again.

The interaction between Twilight, Snuffles and the two werewolves was always interesting.

For the first time in a long while, Patrick reached into his pockets and pulled out his pipe. A wizard was supposed to have a pipe, along with the robes and pointy hat, but he had only ever smoked infrequently. Still sitting under the tree, he puffed away happily enjoying the peace of the morning.

_Samson is gone again. I don't know if that is a good thing or not. I'd almost rather have him where I can see him, but the safety of the group is paramount._

Thinking ahead to their arrival in Lancre, Patrick wondered how they would be received. It had been years since his last visit but Granny always did have a sharp mind...

_I wonder if she's forgiven me for the little mishap with the dragon fire...._

A smile crept across his face as he remembered that day.

[ March 08, 2008, 01:40 PM: Message edited by: Thumpy ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 08, 2008 02:21 PM :

Jeannie walked slowly over to the edge of the clearing her eyes scanning the forest for any signs of the mystery observer. She thought about changing and going after it but to be reasonable it hadn't threatened them in any way. It could have just been a curious wolf, although that was unlikely. The glimpse of fur she had seen ruled out the chance of it being Jake arriving early, his fur was dark, this wolf, or more likely this werewolf, had a much lighter pelt. It didnt seem to pose any danger so for now she decided to leave it but she would keep an eye, ear and nose out for this unseen visitor.

The smell of pipe tobacco wafted past her, she turned and saw Patrick reclining against a tree puffing away on a pipe. She smiled at him and bade him good morning, she didn't mind the smell of the smoke. It reminded her of good times, Alecs father, who had been a good friend of her fathers and who Jeannie had always called Uncle Rod, used to smoke a pipe. Happy memories of listening to her fathers deep voice as hef father and Roderick talked, whilst she played rough and tumble on the floor with her brothers and her sister. She would giggle when they laughed, not because she understood what they were laughing about but because it sounded to her like a giants laugh, they had looked like giants to her back then aswell. Both broad shouldered powerful werewolves, her fathers powerful arms could lift Jeannie and three of her brothers all hanging on, giggling and shrieking as he did mock weightlifting with them dangling from his arms....the pleasant vestiges of memory blew away, as though they were of no more substance than the smoke which had triggered them. Jeannie had a soft smile on her face for a couple of moments, then shook her head and her usual countenance returned. Had she ever been that young? Felt so safe and trusting? Certainly not since her father had died....

Jeannie snapped back to the here and now, she began to pack up the things they would no longer need today. Loading them onto the coach she noticed how well prepared they were but knew that no matter how much provision they made it probably wouldn't be enough. Nothing had gone smoothly on this journey yet, knowing their luck the horses would bolt or the coach would blow up or grow legs and run off with all their provisions still attached, or....okay, maybe she was being just a tad pessimistic. She took her time with her task, deliberatly keeping the pace slow. Around her the forest grew noisy with the sounds of the aboreal dawn chorus, she could have sworn she heard a "Crivens!" in there aswell...and something else. Was that Twilight? Jeannie cocked her head to try and pinpoint the sound of the feline....

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on March 08, 2008 04:47 PM :

Annie had gone back to not doing much, after all the excitement about the magic and the arrival of the Feegle. She knew about Feegles from stories but had never met one until now. When she thought this she realised that on her journey with the group she had encountered many new things and she had changed a bit. After she had eaten and was lying down to go to sleep, thoughts about how she had changed on the journey returned to her head. She had definitely changed. She fell asleep quite quickly, despite her worried thoughts.

When she woke up and had eaten some porridge she approached Jeannie in the same shy way as she usually did. "I know I'm probably annoying you by asking you questions, but you mentioned back in the inn that you could help me learn things about... what I am now." She still couldn't bring herself to say the word werewolf. She smiled and looked at Jeannie imploringly. "So.. can you? I'm actually not that worried about it I just want to know what I'm supposed to do."

[ March 08, 2008, 04:48 PM: Message edited by: AniloracTeatime ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 08, 2008 05:33 PM :

Jeannie had been so intent on trying to listen to what she was sure was Twilight out in the forest that she hadn't noticed Annie until she spoke. Jeannie turned, her expression softened from one of concentration to one of understanding, she smiled at the girl.

"Sure, and you aren't annoying me. You can ask me anything you need to know."

Jeannie looked around at the trees, the rising sun was casting a good light and they didn't need to hurry out of here. She looked back at the girl who was handling her change over to the world of the werewolf with such quiet grace.

"I could try and tell you...but I think it's time for a more practical lesson." She gestured for the girl to follow her to the edge of the clearing. Once there Jeannie gave the first insruction

"Go into the trees, find a suitable spot, concealed if possible, and concentrate. Let your wolf form come out, don't fight it, let it come. Once you are changed call me"

As the girl made her way into the forest Jeannie went in a different direction. A short while later Jeannies clothes were in a heap, concealed in a clump of bushes and she was slinking her way through the trees, when the sunlight managed to pentrate the thick trees it glinted off her blonde fur. She found a shady spot not far from where she could detect the scent of Annie and waited to see how the new werewolf managed with her change, then they could both go and check on Twilight...

[ March 08, 2008, 05:41 PM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 08, 2008 05:53 PM :

Samson heard and hiss and smiled.

"You don't want to be here Twilight...run."

Without waiting to find out what Twilight did, Samson stalked through the forrest. He seemed to be following a certin path. When he reached the base of a tree, Samson brushed away the leaves. He smiled at the stash of steel, silver and magical weapons. Grabbing another sword, a crossbow and two magical explosives, Samson re-covered the stash. Samson sneaked to the edge of the forrest. He saw Patrick smoking a pipe. Jeannie had dissapered into the forrest, and Lilah was conversing with the Feegle. Samson smiled again, grabbed one of his Magical explosives, activated it, stepped into the clearing and chunked it into the middle of the clearing. Still walking towards the center of the clearing, unslung his crossbow, fired the silver tipped bow at Annie, dropped the bow, pulled out his sword, let out a manic howl and charged.

[ March 08, 2008, 05:55 PM: Message edited by: SGT. Knocker ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 08, 2008 06:27 PM :

Jeannies ears pricked up, she heard crashing through the trees heading towards the camp. Her blood ran cold, but her body ran quicker. She sprinted at full speed back to the clearing, she had seconds to take in the chaos that Samson was wreaking, her lips drew back, her muscles bunched and she leapt at him hitting him full on in the chest. As he staggered backwards she drew back long enough to dodge the sword as he flailed it at her and she leapt again, her jaws clamped around his throat and her weight sent him crashing onto his back, the sword flying out of his hand. She didn't relinquish her hold, for a few seconds she wrestled with her consience but then her jaws capable of dealing death in a heartbeat closed on his throat

_I warned you I would kill you, you shouldn't have come back!_

Such a shame she couldn't actually say that to him, but she was sure he got the general idea that this time there was not threats, no warnings, just death awaiting in her jaws

[ March 08, 2008, 06:30 PM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 08, 2008 07:03 PM :

jock and Davey arrived back at camp just in time to see Jeannies jaws close about samsons throat. Jock spotted a fizzing device nearby and raced towards it. one of these had inadvertantly gotten into a nearby clan hole, and Jock had been to the site since. Jock picked it up and ran faster than he believed he ever had before back to the clearing with the hut, before dropping it and racing away, possibly even faster. about a second after he had left the clearing an almighty boom thundered through the forest and jock was propelled forwards to a greater speed again by a tide of hot air and debris. Back in the clearing he wentback up to Davie

"wha' ha' ae missed?..."

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 08, 2008 09:04 PM :

Lilah spotted Samson at the same time that one of the orange swirly magic bombs landed near her, which the feegle scooped up and ran away with before it blew up.

Jeannie had transformed and thrown herself at Samson, managing to knock the silver sword away from him without touching it.

There was a massive explosion behind her, and then the feegle was back at her feet. Wait... two feegles.

"Grab the sword and the crossbow they dropped" she ordered, knowing full well they'd be able to move them - feegles were amazingly strong for their size. She then grabbed her own sword and crossbow, and walked calmly over to Jeannie and Samson were, samson strugging in the werewolves jaws.

Samson glared at her, and she could see in his eyes that the client was now in control.

"Kill him" she hissed at Jeannie. "If you wont, I will."

Her face didnt betray the anguish she felt inside. She didnt want to kill him, she didnt want him to die. But everyone left her, eventually. He'd arranged that. What life would be left for her if he was dead?

The werewold shifted, and Lilah saw her opening. Samson was a easy target now.

"Goodbye Samson" she said calmly, her heart screaming in dispair. She levelled her crossbow at his chest, then pulled the trigger.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 08, 2008 09:17 PM :

The bolt went straight into Samsons chest. He let out an almighty scream. There seemed to be an echo to it. Samsons eyes closed then reopened. They had cleared. The client had left. The arrow hadnt. Blood seeped from the wound. Samson gaspped for breath. Broc ran over, knocking Jeannie and Lilah away, he cradled Samsons head.

"Dad-" Samson coughed up blood

Broc tried to soothe Samson  
"Don't talk"

Samson ignored him

"Dad- Where's-" He coughed again "- Where's Lilah. I... I need to tell her"

He held up his hand just wanting to hold her's as his life seeped away.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 08, 2008 09:22 PM :

Lilah picked herself up off the ground after Broc barrelled through her, then went and knelt down beside samson.

"Im so sorry." she whispered.

[ March 08, 2008, 10:03 PM: Message edited by: adie ]

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on March 08, 2008 09:52 PM :

Twilight had of course raced back to the clearing to protect Mina from whatever Samson was going to do. She ran into the clearing and halted, time standing still as she took in the scene. She glanced wildly around and saw Mina, thankfully unharmed. Twilight felt so stupid! How could she live with herself if something happened to Mina after she had just left her lying there?!

Suddenly, time moved forward in slow motion, the magical bomb went off some way away, and the crossbow hit Samson in the chest. Twilight watched, horrified, as Samson drifted toward the ground, and Lilah crouching beside him. Suddenly, time came back, and all was quiet in the gentle rain. Twilight just sat there, this was not her place. She sat solemnly on the side lines, quietly mourning for for Samson and Lilah

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 08, 2008 10:13 PM :

Samson grabbed Lilah's hand.

"Its okay-" He wishpered "- Thank you."

He took a shuddering breath

"I just wanted to tell you...I love you."

Samson took another breath, closed his eyes....and died

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 09, 2008 04:09 AM :

Jeannie had picked herself up from the ground with all the grace and dignity a large wolf can command, which is rather alot. She stood quietly, watching Lilahs grief. She was glad Lilah had been the one to end Samson's life, considering the history they had it felt like the right kind of ending, much more dignified than having his throat ripped out by a werewolf which would have been the outcome if Lilah hadn't fired. The blood seeped out from around the crossbow bolt embedded in Samsons chest, Jeannie turned and walked, more to get away from the strong scent that could cause a new problem if her control slipped, than for any other reason

Jeannie silently walked back to her clothes, changed and got dressed. She stepped back into the clearing, balked as the scent of blood hit her anew. Swallowing it down, she walked past the body of Samson, paused to lay a sympathetic hand on Lilahs shoulder. Jeannie didn't say anything, there was nothing she could say. Not wanting to intrude on their grief, she gently squeezed her hand on Lilahs shoulder in a silent gentle gesture of condolence, then walked over to check Annie, thankfully the bolt had missed her, it was embedded in a tree a inch or two to the left of Annies head, the girl was luckier than she knew!

"I think we'll skip the lesson for now and get out of here. Dosn't seem right to hang around"

A quick once over of the group showed no casualties. Twilight was with Mina, Annie was okay and Patrick was in one piece. Broc and Lilah were physically fine but their injuries went deeper, grief caused as many scars as a sword

Jeannie busied herself packing up, it didn't take aslong as she had thought it would before the coach was ready to go. Finally she poured some water over the remains of their fire, the hiss of the steam seemed loud in the silent clearing. There was one thing left to do, she went back to the trees, changed again and found a suitable spot. A small clearing surrounded by a circle of tree, wild flowers grew in clumps among the grass, quite beautiful really. Jeannie walked to the middle and with her front paws began to dig...

...a while passed and Jeannie returned to the camp, human shaped and fully dressed. The dirt under her nails was the only sign of what she had been doing. She slowly walked over to Broc and Lilah, although she had no grief over the seath of Samson she knew grief well enough and her mannerisms and tone reflected this

"It's time to lay him to rest...I've prepared a place in the forest"

She didn't say any more, they knew what she meant. She had dug Samsons grave because it wasn't fair to expect Broc or Lilah to do it, it was time to lay Samson to rest then leave this place before the Client found them

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 09, 2008 04:11 AM :

Jock and Davey grabbed the weapons as per instructions. jock realised that they were taking orders from a bigjob, but for a female, voice the response was automatic - instant obedience of the Kelda. they stood there with the weapons for some time and watched the scene unfold, and Samsons last breath finaly escape from his lips with the words "I love you". Oblivious to the anguish on Lilah's face, Jock drobbed the sword he was holding and turned to Davey, expressing his sentiments loudly

"weel, tha's got rid o' tha' scuggan!"

[ March 09, 2008, 04:17 AM: Message edited by: Jock ]

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 09, 2008 05:44 AM :

"Love you" Lilah murmured back moments before Samson died. The fact that he'd thanked her and said that made what she'd done all the more worse.

A hand touched her shoulder sympathetically. Lilah looked up to see Jeannie standing there, and smiled sadly. Then she turned back to samson, hugging him tightly.

Lilah had know clue how long she stayed like that. All she knew was that she hated herself for what she had done. It was too rash, too... like him. Too much like how she had been, before he entered her life. There was nothing to stop her slipping back there now.

At the mention of a resting place for Samson, Lilah sobbed harder. She gae samson a kiss, then lay him back down, and ran off to the dead fire. It was too much to bear.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 09, 2008 06:02 AM :

Jeannie nodded, she understood that this was too much for Lilah. So Jeannie would do it for her, she knelt by Samsons body, slide her arms underneath and lifted him. The dead weight of his corpse was easy for her to manage, being a werewolf has many advantages and being about twenty times stronger than the average female was one of them.

She looked at Broc who nodded and followed as Jeannie took Samson to his grave. Once in the clearing Jeannie carefully laid the body of Brocs son in the rough deep hole she had dug. The damp earth crumbled from the sides as she clambered out, knelt again and began to shove the loose earth, that was piled up next to the grave, back into the hole. Once Samson was buried she marked the grave with a ring of stones, and for some reason that she couldn't fathom she picked a single blue flower from the clumps that grew in the small sunfilled clearing and laid it on the freshly dug earth.

Having done her part, and hopefully making it easier for Broc and Lilah, she silently retreated leaving Broc stood at his son's graveside. Lilah was still sobbing by the blackened heap that had been the fire. Jeannie hesitated, unsure about what to do, she didn't know how Lilah would react to her presence but approached anyway. No words would be enough so Jeannie simply sat next to the grief stricken woman and put her arm around her shoulders. The clearing was filled with the sound of Lilahs sobs, even the birds seemed to respect the tragic events and not a single chirp could be heard in the trees. The only sound was the sound of raw grief

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 09, 2008 10:18 AM :

Jock followed the stately procession through the forest, and contemplated what he had seen. He had not missed the wolf's disappearance and then Jeannies apparition. So Jeannie was the werewolf, but the news didn't alarm him as much as he had expected. He had also watched the other girl, whose name he didn't know, slink off with her.  
_Are they both Werewolves? it's hard to tell, they show no external differences._  
Jock wanted to confront Jeannie, but despite his rather unfeeling comment earlier, he sensed that this was a sacred time, just of grief, and that he shouldn't disturb.  
He wandered back to the clearing where he found Davey trying to fire the crossbow he had picked up. Dropping his meancholy demeanour, he raced over to help him. When they were in position, Davey pulled the trigger, only to find that the whole contraption had been facing backwards, and the arrow ricoched (sp?) off the ground and buried itself in the tree above the little girls head.

"we're gonna ge' in trooble fer tha'..."

*edited for typos...twice*

[ March 09, 2008, 10:23 AM: Message edited by: Jock ]

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on March 09, 2008 10:35 AM :

Twilight watched as Samson was buried and sat with her head down. She was brought back by the _twang!_ of a crossbow and turned her head to see where it had landed above Mina's head. She simply turned and glared at the feegle, normally she would have murdered anyone who would do anything like that, but enough vilonce had already happened here

Turning back, she walked over to the remains of the fire where Lilah sat sobbing, and crawled into the grieving girl's lap for what little comfort it could give her. Laying there crouched down with her tail even lower and her ears flat against her head, Twilight's shouldres jerked as she cried silently for Lilah and Samson

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on March 09, 2008 11:52 AM :

OOC: Jake is still not near the group but I thought I would post nonetheless.

IC:

Jake looked up at the overcast sky and hoped that the discs small sun would burn it away; it was always easier to navigate when you could see where the sun was. Despite what he kept trying to tell himself, he had mixed feelings about the re-union with his companions. Life certainly wasn't boring when they were around, but it did get a lot more complicated and life had never been that simple before them. He wasn't entirely sure how long it had been, he had been unconscious for days and wolves, at least he thought they were wolves, did not have the same sense of time as humans. It couldn't have been more than a few days though sure, could it? Stopping he put his muzzle to the ground and took in a deep breath, their trail was weak, but there was not a great deal of traffic and the scent had lingered, which was just as well. Of course he could turn back, it had occurred to him, just leave them to do their mission, they didn't really need him and they had merely been in Uberwald at the same to because of two separate issues. This fight was not his and yet here he was, standing in the middle of unfamiliar woods following a weak trail and trying to cat them up.

Although it had not been a great deal of time, his appearance had changed, now the massive black wolf had a tight cord of white scar tissue which went from his right side down underneath to near his belly, it was fresh enough to still feel tight, but old enough that he did not have to worry of it re-opening again. At last he huffed out the scent and continued along the trail, moving at an easy lope, well relatively easy, he had been bashed around a bit.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 09, 2008 01:20 PM :

Broc continued to stare at Samsons grave. He finnally snapped out of it. He walked over to Lilah and sat next to her.

"It's funny...I didn't even know him...i really don't know how to feel."

He stared at the ground then.

"Ill get the coach ready...Ya ill do it"

Broc stood up and started to prepart the coach

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on March 09, 2008 01:55 PM :

Patrick had walked quietly behind the others as they moved Samson to his grave. Once Jeannie had finished marking the site, he reached down and took a single stone from the ground, placing it in his pocket.

He was almost back to his old self; he'd seen the bomb being hurled through the air and caught a glimpse of Samson as he strode into the clearing. The Wizard had just enogh time to send one single spell of protection toward Mina before the bomb exploded, disturbing the thaumatological field that normally surrounded Patrick. For the last few minutes he hadn't been able to generate any magic - obviously besides the usual effects of an explosive, that one had also been designed to neutralize his ability to fight back.

_Someone out there knows too much about us._

Knowing that Mina was safe was one thing; seeing how protective twilight was of her made Patrick feel so much better. He might not always be around to look after the witch.

Walking back to the clearing, Patrick noticed the two feegles standing next to the discarded crossbow with sheepish looks on their faces. tracing a line from the bow, he saw the arrow imbedded in the tree above the still sleeping form of Mina. The spell had held.

Walking swiftly over to the two blue mischief makers, Patrick surprised himself by reaching down and grabbing both of them before they could move.

"I always heard of the Nac MacFeegles, but had never seen any until just yesterday. I admit, I am curious about you and would love nothing more than to spend hours in conversation with both of you," Patrick held them closer to his face and tightened his grip. "But by the gods above I promise you this; cause any harm to that girl, or anyone else in this party and I will summon all sorts of hell upon you, your clan and your Kelda. No place will be safe for you - all you could possibly hope for would be a quick but messy death at the hands of whatever beast from the dungeon dimensions got to you first!"

Dropping the little blue creatures to the ground, Patrick strode away in search of Lilah.

He found her and Jeannie together and although he didn't want to interupt, Patrick approached and held out the stone in his hand.

"Lilah, take this - it is from the grave. As long as you have this, you will always know exactly how to get back here. You may wish to return....later."

Patrick didn't know what else to say and so left them alone again as he returned to the clearing. Broc was getting the coach ready and the wizard remained silent as he gathered some of their belongings. He'd have to wake Mina soon and get her some breakfast before they left....

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 09, 2008 02:13 PM :

Jock would not normally have taken being picked up by a human so lightly, but something about the man had spoken of barely controlled power, as confirmed by his threat of magic. Jock turned to Davey.

"ah dinnae ken where the bigjob's goin, bu' tha' looks like Lancre way." HGe gestured along the road. "mebbe we shoul' join, an by the way thins ha' gone since ah've been here, there could be some fighting" daveys face brightened visibly at the thought of further violence and he nodded rapidly. Davey was also known as Silent Davey, as he spoke little, but when he did design to speak he wouldn't stop. Jock was glad that he had stopped speaking as he wasn't sure he could explain much if he decided to start asking questions.

seeing the rest of the group start getting on the coach, Jock made to also, with Davey trailing behind. when there was no fighting to do, Davey could be quite sheepish and shy, which was rare in a feegle. Jock jumped into the main carriage only to find it quite crowded. shuffling under the seat he found himself face to face with the cat he had taken a bash at so quickly scuttled over to the other bench. sitting down next to Jock, davey made himself comfortable undr the bench also, and they waited for the remaining members of the party to get on and set off.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 09, 2008 02:38 PM :

"It's time to go Lilah" Jeannies voice was unusually soft, she stood up and gestured that lilah should do the same. Everyone was getting on the coach, no-one wanted to stay around here so close to the barely cold grave. Satisfied that Lilah would indeed get onto the coach and not sit in a grief induced daze Jeannie indicated to her that she should get inside. It looked as though she could do with some time on the journey to begin to come to terms with what had happened, she had killed the man she loved. That would take some soul searching, the poor woman was going to have it pretty rough for a while

Jeannie climbed onto the top of the coach, Broc was sat in the drivers seat and had the reins ready in his hands so Jeannie sat on top of the coach facing backwards, she got comfortable amongst the bags

"As soon as everyone's ready we go" Jeannie spoke her eyes fixed on the tree line just to the left of the coach, was that another flash of pale fur or was it the sunlight playing tricks with her eyes? She kept staring until her eyes watered, nothing else could be seen. She stoped staring but didn't relax, she couldn't wait for the coach to get moving. She wanted to get away from this place and it's smell of death...

[ March 09, 2008, 03:06 PM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on March 09, 2008 02:39 PM :

Annie cursed the bad timing of everything that had happened. She had been looking forward to a chance to change into a wolf. She got up and walked around, keeping silent and avoiding talking to anyone who looked sad. She had always felt that that was the right thing to do when someone had died. She wondered for a second if anyone she knew back home had died. She shook away the thought. It wasn't as if anything that happened in Ankh Morpork was any of her business anymore. She sat down on the ground and looked at her arm, checking to see if the bitemark from the feral was still there. It wasn't. She smiled. She was pretty sure that the healing was a werewolf thing. _Being a werewolf might not be one of the things I hoped for in life, but I could definitely get used to it._

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on March 09, 2008 02:46 PM :

Twilight had chosen to reside in the coach, seeing as she could do no more for Lilah. She glared at the feegles as they walked in, and suddenly she realized that they were getting ready to leave. Hopping out of the coach, she quickly transformed into a human and picked up the still sleeping form of Mina.

"Come on, little one," she said softly and Mina began to wake up, "It is time to go" She carried Mina back into the coach, and sat down on the bench adjacent the feegles, holding the girl in her lap

"By the way," she said in the general direction of Jock and Davey, "I heard what the wizard said to you, and if you try something like that again, he's not the only one you'll have to be dealing with" As she glared at them she allowed her eyes to glow the green of a cat's, her true eyes, before they turned back to the deep blue of her mock human form

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 09, 2008 02:59 PM :

Jock was very worried when he saw the stranger. She seemed in some way much like Twilight, but she was human, and when her eyes changed colour to those of a cats he was really freaked out.

_Could this group BE any weirder? unless there is some strange mutant that I've missed, we have the whole set of weird and wonderful creatures_

Jock retreated back intoo his Bench-hole and waited for the coach to set off, if only so that they would stop soon and he could be out of the way of that werecat thing.

[ March 09, 2008, 03:09 PM: Message edited by: Jock ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on March 09, 2008 03:21 PM :

Climbing onto the top of the coach as was his preferred method of travel, Patrick looked back at the clearing and whispered a word.

In the middle of the camping spot arose a small whirlwind; dust and leaves appeared to chase each other around. The fire pit was covered over, footprints disappeared and what other little signs that they had even been there, were scoured away.

_All gone except the scent. Can't think of everything....._

Settling in among the bags and supplies, Patrick thought more about their destination.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 09, 2008 03:40 PM :

Jeannie looked around, she saw Annie not yet on the coach and beckoned her up to the top to sit with her and Patrick. She could take the opportunity to try and teach her a few useful tips about the whole morphication business

"Everyone ready?" Jeanine asked when Annie had climbed ont the coach "Okay Broc let's go"

He spurred the horse into a trot, it wasn't exceptionally fast but they didn't need to go tearing out of here, just getting out of here was enough. The coach jolted and rocked its way on along on the start of todays journey.

Jeannie used the time to impart little bits of information to Annie, inbetween hands of Cripple Mr Onion

"...So you see, by staying downwind it means your scent isn't carried towards the prey...damn it, I've only got a lousy you win,deal them again."

Nothing out of the ordinary happened although Jeannie was on the lookout for the mysterious pale furred observer. She saw nothing though, perhaps they had just been on another wolfs patch? It was possible, she reasoned. The coach rocked, they played card and talked, the morning went on in this fashion until...

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on March 09, 2008 03:52 PM :

Annie sat up on the coach next to Jeannie. She smiled at Patrick and Jeannie and waited for one of them to start a conversation. She hated quiet journeys. Though she knew from her experience of the group that nothing with them was ever quiet.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 09, 2008 07:46 PM :

Lilah spent the next few hours in a daze. She was vaugly aware of people sitting with her, them talking to her, and being given a rock. For the first time in a long time, she didnt know what to do. She certainly wasnt in a position to respond to peoples kindness, not after what she'd done. She didnt think she deserved it.

Lilah was herded into the coach, but managed to pull out of the autonomy of her actions long enough to grab her pack, and the weapons the Feegles had removed from Samsons reach earlier. Then she climbed into the coach, the fact that she hated riding in coaches completely lost on her.

She stared blankly out the window as tehy took off, her tears having dried up some time ago.

_You shouldnt be so upset _The part of Lilah she tried so hard to ignore spoke. _he was dead anyway, and you know it._

Lilah slipped back into thoughts of revenge. The client would die. She smiled.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 09, 2008 09:39 PM :

Broc glanced at Patrick, as he kept the horses goin.

"so...whos this witch you know in Lancre"

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on March 10, 2008 03:22 AM :

"Hmm? Oh, well, she's a bit of a mentor really. Part teacher, part terror and a sometimes friend."

Patrick had been lost in thought there for a few minutes and hadn't even been watching the trail or the woodline.

"She's been known to curse, cure, help and hinder all in one sitting. However, I think she may have some idea as to how we can survive this ordeal of ours."

Thinking about the nature of the group and how everyone pretty much wore their hearts on their sleeves, he called out in general, "Don't be surprised if she knows everything about you just by looking. Granny has this er, way about her."

_I can only hope she'll be willing to help._

Looking at Broc directly for the first time in what seemed like days, Patrick muttered, "I'm...sorry about Samson. I guess we didn't....I mean, I didn't realize what was happening until too late. Sorry."

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 10, 2008 04:01 AM :

Jock had had enough. Twilight had been staring at him for the entire journey and he was now a little unnerved by her unrelenting gaze. Wriggling out from underneath the sleeping Davey, Jock clambered out of the window and sat beside Patrick, just about catching the end of the conversation.

"wha's tha' aboot the Hag o' Hags? Ach, she gives me the willies, the way she looks a' ye like tha'. Ah dinnae ken wha' ye business wi hags is, but ahm weel ou' o' it, just show me the way to mah clan and ah'm gone."

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 10, 2008 06:36 AM :

Lilah knew she couldnt keep going with the group if she stayed in this greif induced daze, regardless of how nice it was to slip into the bubble of memories. To come back to reality would be to admit Samson was dead. However, if they were going to visit granny, Lilah couldnt stay in her bubble. Time to bottle up the greif, she could be upset later. In any case, it would be useless against the Client.

The cold, calculating aspect of Lilahs personality came to the surface, as it was the only part of hershe could bear to show right now. She blinked as the Feegle climbed out the window, then realised where she was. The urge to follow jock was strong, but she stayed where she was, instead pulling out her crossbow, which she started to pull apart to clean. The rest of her weapons would get the same treatment. This task was soothing, and made her forget, at least for a while.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 10, 2008 07:31 AM :

Jeannies head turned at the mentioned of witches, she had passed through Lancre once, very briefly during her pursuit of a killer. She had deliberatly stayed clear of the resident witches, they could probably tell what she was in a glance. Well, it would certainly be interesting when they got to Lancre.

She stretched against the luggage that she was nestled in, she had barely moved since they had started travelling some hourse ago and she was getting restless and bored. She tried to settle down for a doze but the constant bumps and lurches of the coach made it practically impossible, she shuffled the cards over and over just for somthing to do with her hands, the morning went by in the same monotonous fashion...

...The sun was nearly over head now and a growl from her stomach agreed that it was indeed nearly midday and time for some lunch, twisting in her position she called to Broc

"Find a good spot and we'll stop for a while."

The coach began to slow down and stopped where the trees were a just bit more thinned out than the rest of the forest, not the best of picnic spots really but Jeannie was just grateful to get off the coach and stretch her legs.

As the others slowly piled out of the coach Jeannie turned and beckoned to Annie.

"Okay, time for that lesson now. Go into the trees and change, then we'll see what we can catch for lunch" she smiled and went to find her own spot to change, after hours sat on that coach doing nothing the prospect of a hunt was bliss

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 10, 2008 03:50 PM :

Jock watched Jeannie and Annie slink out of the clearing. He was upset that he had had to leave his fresh(ish) Badger back at the campsite, and his stomach was rumbling particularly loudly as he had missed breakfast. He clambered into the coach and poked Davey.

"ah wan' te get us some food, bu' ah cannae wi' hem werewolves oot. ha' ye some vittels aboot yer person?" a shrug from Davey told him all he needed to know. "Ach Crivens! can ye not hear me stomach a'roarin? weel, let's speed the process by getting some firewood fer our wee friendies here." and with that he jumped off the coach, pulling Davey behind him, and ran int the forest to collect the wood.

They brought back twigs, then logs, then large branches and fallen tree trunks. Nobody had noticed yet, so they carried on with gay abandon, not really bothering with the size or shape of the wood that they brought...

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on March 10, 2008 05:33 PM :

Annie went into the woods as Jeannie had told her to. She sat down, closed her eyes and without her even knowing how she had done it, she changed. She opened her eyes and saw that the world seemed to have changed with her. She sat quietly, knowing that Jeannie was somewhere near and would come and find her soon enough. She had always assumed that communicating was something that came naturally but her shyness and worry that she wouldn't know how to talk as a wolf prevented her from making a noise.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 10, 2008 06:09 PM :

Lilah climbed out of the coach, and found a spot to sit..She wasnt paying attention to what was going on around her, and the rest of the group were kind of avoiding her. After a while, she looked up to see that the Feegles had started collecting wood. There was a lot of it, including a few actual trees. Did those little blue irritants ever think about what they were doing?

"Planning on building a house?" she asked, as they dragged another tree trunk into the clearing. "Best move it all before JEannie gets back, you're blocking the road ahead."

with that, Lilah went back to staring at the ground.

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on March 10, 2008 09:17 PM :

Mina was amazed by the show of magic that she had participated in. She ran around happily saying  
'I did magic!' to herself and anyone who would listen. She was purturbed by Samson's sudden arrival, but she was already sleepy by then. She heard the small blue man arrive, and as she went to tend to Twilight she giggled to herself 'Heehee freegle! Wee Jock! Wee-wee Jock! Heehee!'

Mina went over to Twilight and hoped that she was alright, 'feel better!' she whispered as she stroked the cat and she pictured her friend feeling as well as possible in the hope that it would happen, like with the banshee/duck.  
This small magic drained all the remaining energy from Mina and she fell into the deepest of deep sleeps.

Mina dreamt. She dreamed first of the magic she had done, then it all came together into a big explosion of magic and then the chatter-creatures came again. But this time Mina was not scared, they were shadowed by another feeling. An atmosphere of huge sadness. She thought the space around her was crying. The crying became more violent, turning into huge jolts of movement, which stopped suddenly.

Mina slowly awoke, feeling still groggy and drained. She realised that the jolts had, in fact, been the cart's movements. They were in another place!  
'Where are we?' she asked sleepily to no-one in particular. 'Where did everyfing go?'  
Mina noticed the feegles at that point. 'Heehee! Two freegs! With trees! Freegs with trees and wee wee Jock! Hee!'  
She laughed in a groggy sleepy way that indicated that she was only just awake enough to find this amusing. The feegles dropped their trees and branches and looked at her..

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on March 10, 2008 11:26 PM :

Twilight giggled at young Mina's own giggling, as she squirmed in her lap with excitement

"Yes, Mina," she said, "And I'm sure that they would love to play with you, if you wanted" She looked up at the two Feegles who had collected about half of the forest in their log pile "isn't that rigt, guys?" she once again allowed her eyes to glow the eerie emerald green of a cat's

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 11, 2008 07:24 AM :

Jock and Davey dropped their tree and looked sheepish at Lilah's comment. They cleared the road, but the trees were still sluttering up the clearing and reducing the space for anything else dramatically. Jock caught the back end of Mina's little Ditty about 'Trees and Freegs' and Twilight's question. Remembering the warnings from both the Wizard and the Cat, Jock decided to houmor the small girl and so ran over to sit on her head.

'Ach, yer wee bigjob. Ye dinna ken ma name!! ahm a FEEGLE, no' a freeg, wha'e'er tha' is. Ahm wee Jock, as ye ken, bu' mah friend here is Silent Davey" Davey gave a wave and Jock bent over to whisper in Mina's ear "He don' speak much, bu' he fights like a demon!" Jock stoot up and returned his voice to normal volume "He's a real sized feegle. Ahm very wee, even fer a pictsie."

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 11, 2008 04:01 PM :

Jeannie stood amongst the trees, once again in her wolf shape, her tongue lolled from her mouth as she panted. Her head cocked and her mouth closed slightly as she tried to listen for Annie, not a sound could be heard so Jeannie turned to her most reliable sense and sourced Annies scent. It was a work of a minute to find the young werewolf, hidden well amongst some bushes.

Jeannie realised then there would be a problem, communication. Just because Annie had become a werewolf didn't mean she would automatically understand the canine language, it was no different than explaining that just because you moved to Klatch didn't mean you could speak Kaltchian. Jeannie and Jake could both speak fluent canine because they had both used it since they were pups, even Alec could understand canine despite the fact he was always stuck in his human form but now Jeannie had to try and speak with someone who had never used the language before, thankfully alot of it was body language so Annie should be able to pick up the general gist of it...

...some time had passed,the hunt was over, Annie and Jeannie had both changed and dressed and were walking back to where the coach had stopped with a plump pheasant in each had done well Jeannie mused as they walked, now there was two of them perhaps next time they could go for a young deer or...her thoughts took her by surprise, she was adjusting far too easily to life in Uberwald. The days where she had hunted and feasted were far behind her, but she told herself that now it was only for the benefit of the group. She was just putting her skills to good use to help the others... she forced this disturbing line of thought far back into the recesses of her mind as they reached the clearing. At least she _thought_ they had come to the right place, but the small clearing was full of wood of various sizes, in fact...yep, that one over there was definitely an oak tree. She was about to turn back in confusion when she caught the various scents of the group coupled with the smell of a fire on the other side of the wood pile. They skirted around it and found the others, Jeannie looked around, she only had to glance at the sheepish look on Jocks face to know who was responsible for the over enthusiastic fire-wood pile. She sighed, sat down and tossed a carcass to Lilah, the poor woman looked as though she could do with some mundane everyday distraction from whatever her mind was thinking.

"Here, help me with these" Jeannie began to pluck and gut the bird she still held, hoping Lilah would overlook the teeth marks on each birds neatly snapped neck

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 11, 2008 05:22 PM :

Lilah caught the bird and started to pluck it, but it was a half hearted attempt. While she did so, she looked around for Broc, but couldnt see him. NOt knowing if she actually wanted to speak to him or not, she focussed on what she was doing instead.

"How much further to Lancre?" she finally asked Jeannie.

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on March 11, 2008 06:13 PM :

Once Annie got used to the hunting she was doing it almost absent-mindedly. She made another one of the strange realisations that she had been making for the last while. This time she realised that when she was a wolf she was no longer divided. She didn't feel like either quiet Annie or angry Annie, but Werewolf Annie. Of course, she still hesitated about things every now and then and was immensely intimidated by Jeannie, and the thoughts of killing things while hunting certainly brought out her bad side, but she was for the most part a completely balanced person (wolf, I should say). She returned to the camp with Jeannie feeling very happy.

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on March 11, 2008 06:27 PM :

Mina stared at the blue creature.  
'Freeeeeeeeeegle?' she exclaimed inquisitively.

'Heeheehee! Wee-wee Jock! You're a wee-wee pixie! Heeheeheeheehee!' Mina giggled. 'Why's Davey freegle silent?'

Mina picked Jock up from off her shoulder, not quite knowing what to make of him. Suddenly she had an idea, and placed him on top of her head.  
'Now you're a big freegle! Why do you have lots of trees?'

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on March 11, 2008 06:45 PM :

Annie wondered what to do. She saw Mina messing around with the Feegles and went over to them. "Hi Mina! I'm Annie, I never really talk to you that much. What are you doing? 'Cause it sounds like you guys are having fun."

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on March 11, 2008 07:31 PM :

'Lo Annie' Mina answered shyly. 'This is wee-wee Jock, and he's on my head so he can be a big biiiig freegle!'  
Mina plucked the protesting Feegle off her head and plonked it onto Annie's shoulder.  
'Now he's even bigger! Heeheehee!' She paused.  
'What's your job? I look after a box, but sometimes it's scaaaaaaary, and then I don't like it, but I don't like it even more if someone else has it 'cos then it's more dangerouser. I can do magic!'

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on March 11, 2008 08:28 PM :

Twilight smiled at the feegle's quickness to learn and sat upon Mina's shoulder, then allowing her to place him on Annie's. She leaned over and patted the small girl on the shoulder at her comment about magic.

"Yes," she said, happily, "Mina seems to be becoming quite a skilled little witch" It was true, and Twilight was becoming quite proud of the small girl, Twilight had moved out here so fast with the girl, she hadn't realised how much she missed her family back in Ankh-Morpork, it felt good to have something to be protective over. She looked down at Silent Davey. Picking him up, she placed him on Annie's other shoulder

"C'mon, Davey," she said, "join in the fun"

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 11, 2008 10:01 PM :

Broc finished tethering the horses to a tree. He walked over to where Jeannie and Lilah were. without speaking he grabbed one of the plucked chickens and began to skin it. Broc wasn't even paying attention to what he was doing. He just stared at the ground. After a while Broc looked up at Jeannie. His eyes radiated sadness

"When is this going to end, Jeannie. Ive lost so much. I dont know how much longer i can go on."

Broc looked back at the ground.

"I don't want to wimp out on you...but im just about at my end."

He looked back up at Jeannie, then at Lilah.

"Im sorry i failed the group...I shouldnt have left...if you want me to leave i will...i could have stopped Samson from..."

Broc hung his head and just let it all out. All the grief and anguish...guilt. He began to sob

[ March 11, 2008, 10:02 PM: Message edited by: SGT. Knocker ]

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 12, 2008 06:47 AM :

Jock did not appreciate being manhandled liek this, or being called a pixie, but decided to go along with is. That cat-woman-thing was still watching and even though he couldn't see the wizard, that was no guarantee that he wasn't watching either.

"our Davey's never been a great speaker, but he seems to like ye." Davey was indeed enjoying himself immensley and was quite content to sit atop Mina, after he had scrambled up there to take Jocks place.

Seeing the appearance of food, Jock dived off Annie's shoulder and into the fire, where the meat was cooking slowly. A hasty exit from the burning pile ensured no burning, but he had gotten away with a fair amount of meat and retreated to a corner to munch it Quietly.

((Mina, do what you like with Davey, He's all yours!))

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 12, 2008 07:47 AM :

Lilah didnt know what to do when Broc started crying. To say sorry would seem too insincere; too much of a cop out. Would he ever forgive her?

"Help me get revenge on the Client" lilah finally said. "None of this would have happened if it wasnt for him." She stared intently at the pile of feathers at the ground. "I never would have had to do what i did." she took a breath. "I'll understand if you hate me. But what else was i meant to do? And the client is just going to do this to other people if he's not stopped."

She lifted her eyes to meet Broc's, and placed a hand on his knee. "Please help. He wouldnt have wanted his death to be in vain."

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 12, 2008 08:06 AM :

Jeannie had opened her mouth to answer Broc, but Lilah spoke first. Jeannie nodded

"Lilah's right Broc, what happened was nobody's fault. The best thing you can to is take down the thing that did that to Samson's mind"

She stood up to let them speak privately, this was a grief that the two of them shared. Having rammed all the birds onto a make shift spit she busied herself with cooking them over the fire...

...after a while the delicious smell of roast game wafted from the clearing, it was a good meal and there was plenty for everyone. With her appetite sated Jeannie pondered on what else Broc had said, 'when is this going to end?'. Jeannie sighed, they had no choice but to see this through right up until they got rid of the Box, but Broc wasn't the only one getting weary of the forest and of the things that had happened in Uberwald.

She thought back to Alec, that had been one good thing about having to come back to Uberwald...if you discounted the part where she had ripped his brothers throat out. She wondered how far away Jake was now, that was another bit of good news. She realised she was trying to lift her own glum mood by thinking of good things but the tragic events of this morning still weighed heavy on the group and getting out of this forest, where every part looked like the place where it had happened would be the best tonic for the group, so it was time to move on again

"Okay, I'll get the horses ready, once everyone is ready she should get moving again. The sooner we get out of this forest the better." As she looked at Mina she blinked and looked again, yes there really was another little blue man sat on her head.

"So we have two feegles now? Aren't we...erm...lucky?" she finished weakly, she was beginning to see that having feegles around was certainly an experience. With another bemused look at the monster wood pile she went to tend to the horses whilst the others got ready for the next part of the journey

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on March 12, 2008 09:26 AM :

The Clearing was quiet save for the sounds of birds and the scurrying of small prey. The group had been here though, he could smell the concealed remains of the fire as well as the clinging scent of roasted meat. Saliva oozed between his jaws and hung momentarily before snapping, the smell was certainly good. They had buried the rabbits bones, but not deeply enough that the forest's inhabitants hadn't come and dug them up. The smell of blood shot through him like a knife as he sought the trail below a tree. His hackles rose, but the scent was not familiar., an ambush perhaps? He followed the scent to a smaller clearing and the site of a fresh grave. The wolf's mind was logical, it did not recognise the scent and so the death was not important. Turning he finally found the tracks of the horses, they were clear enough for even the dumbest of wolves to follow. Once again he started off at the lope that was his top speed at the moment.

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on March 12, 2008 02:11 PM :

Annie felt a bit awkward with the Feegles placed reluctantly on her shoulders. "Um, I don't really have a job. I wish i could do magic." She smiled at Mina.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 12, 2008 05:45 PM :

The horses had been fed and Jeannie led them to a stream not far from the coach. As they drank their fill she stood idly leaning up against a tree. Her arms crossed against her chest, she fell into deep thought. What sort of creature was this 'Client'? It obviously possessed a worrying amount of power. But another worry was the groups moral, it had been decreased greatly, and understandably, by the death of Samson. Jeanie made a mental note to keep an eye on Lilah and Broc, grief was a powerful emotion that could cause a great many different reactions. And the Box had been unusualy benign lately, could that be the hold that Mina had on it? The young witch was showing far more power than Jeannie would have though possible when she first laid eyes on her, a lost little girl in the city.

The horses had drunk enough to satiate them for now, Jeannie gathered up their reins and led them back to the coach. Once they were tacked up to it, she sat down by the coach waiting patiently for the others and just...thinking...

[ March 13, 2008, 04:54 PM: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 13, 2008 05:33 PM :

"You think about it" Lilah told Broc after a bit. He didnt seem to know what to say.

Jeannie had gotten the coach ready, so Lilah climbed up on top and settled down, trying to get comfortable. She hoped they'd be out of the bush soon, it was too much of a reminder of...everything.

"I can see your concern for me" she said to Jeannie. Lilah had noticed the way she was looking at her. "You're worried i might do something to harm the group. But theres no need to. Im not going to say i'll be ok, cause thats a lie. But i'm not going to do anything stupid."

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 13, 2008 08:20 PM :

Broc whatched Lilah walk off. He really wanted to go after this Client but...no his resonsiblity was to the group. He headed over to the coach. He looked at Jeannie with mournful eyes and climbed up on the coach. He grabbed the reigns and waited for the others.

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on March 14, 2008 01:12 PM :

Patrick tried to round up the stragglers, but it was like trying to herd cats; the prospect of another hours long ride in the coach was daunting.

"If we leave now, we should be at Granny's house tonight. Warm beds, good food and a roof over our heads. Anyone else coming - or do want to stay out here all night?"

He wasn't sure if it was the prospect of warm beds or good food, but he seemed to have sparked some motivation in the others.

Walking over to the horses, the wizard whispered a simple phrase that they appeared to react to. Bowing their heads and stomping their front hooves, the horses also seemed to have developed a certain amount of motivation.

_We could all sleep for the rest of the trip....the horses know how to get there. Smart animals really, but still a bit smelly._

Finding his spot on the top of the coach, Patrick laid back and made himself comfortable. A nap would do him some good. Granny would be sure to give him a hard time when they arrived so he'd have to be ready to withstand the onslaught of embarrassment.

Looking toward Jeannie, Patrick let a smile creep across his face, "Granny might be a tad gruff when she first meets you. She doesn't care too much for...er, visitors. She'll help us - but Granny is the kind that will put you through the ringer first - make you sweat a bit first."

_I know she can help us. She has an understanding of these things. I think....._

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 14, 2008 03:10 PM :

Jock finshed his food and clambered back up onto the coach, whistling a little tune, when suddenly he sniffed something that made his eyes wide. Burrowing under the packs on the roof he came across the source of the smell. Bearhuggers. Rapidly unscrewing the top he dived in (a good thing to do with these wide-necked bottles) and spent a happy minute wallowing and drinking, until there was but a puddle left at the bottom. Staggering out, jock wandered across patricks leg and abruptly sat down.

"ahmpished" he said, rolling and lolling his head around his shoulders. "ahmverrapished" the words were almost incomprehensible. "thawashgoodboosh...gooboosh...boosh...sssshhhh"and with that he took a breath and bursed into song.

_Shpeed bonnie boat like a bird o' tha wiii  
Onward the shailors craaaaa  
Carry the la' tash born ta be keeng  
Over the she t' Shy_

Loud tha wind howls, loud t' waveshroar,  
Thunderclapsh ren' t' air  
fabbled oor foessshhhtand by the shore  
Fooolooo theeee will no' daaaaaaaaaaar  


and concluding the verse he promptly rolled off the coach and into the road...

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 14, 2008 04:12 PM :

Jeannie had waited until everyone was on the coach before climbing up and resuming her position amongst the baggage. Pretty soon the monotony of the journey lulled her into a doze, punctuated by the occasional strange dream…a strong smell woke her up, was that…? She sat up quickly, and saw Jock weaving his way along the top of the coach, the smell of the whiskey hung like a cloud around him

She picked up the empty bottle and looked at it in disbelief

"Oi! that was for emergencies! Just you wait until I get a hold of you, you little…." Before she could grab the inebriated feegle he had tumbled off the coach, she winced as his skull bounced off the dirt track but amazingly he stood up and began staggering and weaving his way after the coach.

Jeannie rolled her eyes, jumped down grabbed Jock and climbed back up on the coach, not even bothering to ask Broc to stop. They weren't going exceptionally fast and it was easy enough for her to jog after the coach and catch it.

She shoved the feegle between some of the bags, hopefully it would encumber him enough that he wouldn't be bouncing off down the road again.

She leaned over to Patrick and whispered so quietly that there was no way the feegle would hear them

"Just make sure he doesn't find the other bottle I've got stashed in my pack. The way this quest is going there may be a need for it"

She moved towards the back of the coach, dangling her legs off the end and watching the track dissapear into the forest. Would this forest ever end? She lay back and watched the pale blue sky as they travelled under it, it seemed as though she had only blinked and the colour of the sky had changed to a twilight dusky purple. She must have dozed off again. Sitting up she turned around just in time to see the trees thinning out and a patchwork of fields, roads and building far in the distance. They had finally made it our of the forest! Sure, they would have to stop for the night again, but somehow that didn't seem as bad now they were finally out from amongst the trees…

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 14, 2008 04:39 PM :

Jock was oblivious to the happenings around him, but when he found himself in a hole he reverted to a dream-like daze and was only half listening to the sound of Jeannie's voice and the calattering of the cart wheels on the stony road.

[ March 14, 2008, 04:55 PM: Message edited by: Jock ]

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on March 14, 2008 04:49 PM :

The wolf had watched the coach from the trees for a long while and had stalked it as it drew to the beginning of the farmland. Grateful for the gloom of dusk the enormous black wolf loped out of the trees and followed the coach at a discrete distance. He could smell the familiar scents of members of the group and knew that he had, for better or worse, finally caught up with them. The large wolf was well muscled and seemed to move wit ha grace impossible for a creature of his size.

As he loped behind the wind brought him scents of members he did not recognise and the appearance of an oversized wolf tended to make most people edgy so for now he held back. Well he told himself that was the reason, perhaps also it was the fact that they were now entering witch country and wolves and witches didn't always get on. With the easy lope of a creature that is used to covering miles without the slightest thought, he followed and watched.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 14, 2008 05:50 PM :

Jeannie could almost visibly see the group brighten up as they finally emerged from the forest. The coach travelled for a while longer, then Jeannie called to Broc to stop as twilight began to give way to night. The horses were un-hitched and secured to a handy oak tree that grew up from the grass next to the track. The group settled down for the nights stay a little way away from the track, in a area sheltered on most side by brambles

The obligatory campfire was lit after a brief foray into a nearby copse for firewood.

Jeannie helped to set up camp then walked over to the very edge of the chosen spot. She sat down with her knees up against her chest, her arms were folded on her knees and she simply took in the view. It felt easier to breath out here in the open, the place where she was seated was effectively at the 'entrance' to the camp site, all other sides were hedged off. Trying to ignore the nagging feeling that she playing guard dog Jeannie sat and enjoyed the new scents that the breeze brought to her and mulled over what Patrick had said about this witch they were going to see. A witch would spot her for what she was straight away, just how many problems would that cause?

Well, they would find out in the morning...

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on March 14, 2008 06:11 PM :

Orcakeline arrived to the conclusion she was deadly tired after such a long scene with Samson and the others having to fight him off was terrible.

Orcakeline stepped out of the coach and helped Jeannie set up the camp.

The dwarf then chose a spot where to go change in the woods and prepared herself for the grand meeting with was going to be big.

She washed in a small lake in the forest,not extremely deep in the woods with her axe near her right hand and went towards the when she was about to go out ,again,she heard a crack.

_It's probably a little cockroach or bad..._ she said to herself.

She went to the camp and laid her head on a pile of leaves,covering herself with one of her was going to be a very cold night.

But after hearing yet another faint "crack",the dwarf fell asleep and dreamed about a werewolf land with friends and funny shaped clouds with different names,some of them with her friends names written on them and others with vague dots of green and land was a happy one now,she was again the happy dwarf she used to her dreams she always felt safe and sound,knowing she had friends there for her.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 14, 2008 09:15 PM :

Lilah was glad to be out of the forest, but was annoyed at how slowly they were moving. She'd slept on the coach, during the day, and was anxious to get this over with as soon as possible. She would have gone ahead if she could, but the group had what the client wanted...he would come for it eventually, and the closer they got the more likely it was. He wouldnt just give up....

She lay down, pretending to sleep, still only focussed on thoughts of revenge

[ March 14, 2008, 09:17 PM: Message edited by: adie ]

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 14, 2008 09:49 PM :

Broc fed and tied the horses for the night. Broc went and sat next to Lilah. She looked like she was asleep. Broc was reminded of something his father told him. 'No matter how tough it gets, you just keep on truckin...wait...what did i just say'. Broc smiled and chuckled at the memory. it felt good to smile. Broc leaned back and looked at the stares while he reminsced.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 15, 2008 02:03 AM :

Lilah opened her eyes when someone sat next to her, and after a moments consideration realised it was Broc. She rolled onto her back, and followed his gaze.

"When i was little my mother used to tell me that stars were the souls of the dead, watching over us" she murmured. "When she died I used to spend hours wondering which one was her." she sighed, remembering the past. It wasnt something she did often. "it might just all be fairytales. But it helps me keep the ones ive lost close. You mightnt always be able to see them, but they're always there."

[ March 15, 2008, 02:56 AM: Message edited by: adie ]

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on March 15, 2008 06:30 AM :

Jake watched the clouds of scents float around the group and knew that they were settled for the night when the bright spark of a fire leapt out of seemingly nowhere. They had chosen a very secure campsite; that had to be Jeannie's choice, the wolf in her finding a safe place. Of course it did mean that making a discrete entrance was a great deal harder and catching Jeanie's scent he knew that she was waiting for something. Had she scented him? Impossible he had been conscious of the wind direction the whole time. Deciding that agonising over it was a definite waste of time he moved, wraith like, towards the camp. For once he was grateful that he had inherited his father's colouring. When the hulking form of Jake appeared before Jeannie, she seemed to give no sign of surprise, but a werewolf was born to read another like a book and that is exactly what he did with her now. True it was easier to hide ones emotions when in human form, but the tells were there. Lowering himself to his haunches he fixed her with a steady and intelligent gaze. His flat tongue snaked out from between his lips and wet his already glistening black nose.

_What have I missed?_

Was all that he asked

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 15, 2008 12:21 PM :

What had he missed? Only a werewolf like Jake could ask such a question after Jeannie had spent the last few days trying to convince herself that he wasn't dead. She looked carefully at him before answering , she saw a huge scar running down his side. It looked like her fears weren't exactly unfounded. She could almost have throttled him for his complacent entrance, but he was alive. That was enough. Besides, it would be easier to throttle him when he was in human form

Most people would be perturbed by a huge black wolf sitting down right in front of them; Jeannie simply shrugged keeping a carefully blank mask on her features. Her posture didn't change, she was wearing her long hooded leather cape which fell neatly around her shoulders and spread out behind her on the grass, the same one in fact that she had thrown to Jake many months ago when they first met each other

_Oh not much, just several battles to the death with werewolves, people being possessed and trying to kill us, six inch high Fire Deities, Feegles…all everyday occurrences really_

She glanced again at the scar, it was clear to see against the darkness of his dark fur, her mask dropped slightly to show a flicker of concern

_What happened?_

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on March 15, 2008 01:20 PM :

Patrick had gone through the motions of helping to set up camp as well as getting Mina ready for another night spent under the stars. He was proud of her; she had dealt very well with all of the excitement over the last few days.

_At her age, I couldn't find my own butt with a map and a compass._

As the wizard went about his business, he caught sight of Jake striding into the campsite! He smiled, seeing that he was alright and had been able to rejoin the group. Patrick had wanted to go over and greet Jake, but decided that he and Jeannie probably some catching up to do.

As he reached down to set out his blanket, Patrick caught a glint of a red set of eyes from the tree-line. Looking up, it was hard to see the form in the darkness, but eventually he was able to make out a distinct shape.

Any other rabbit wandering into the field at this time of night with more than a few werewolves so close wouldn't have stood a chance. But...something about this rabbit didn't quite...it was the way it looked at him.

He knew that you could tell a great deal about someone by just looking into their eyes and those eyes weren't exactly rabbit. The form yes, the general idea yes, but not the eyes.

"Granny?"

With that one whisper from Patrick, the rabbit turned - looked back at him for a second and then disappeared into the woods. Not a sound was made.

_Well, I guess we won't exactly be showing up unannounced now, will we?_

Settling down to a quick snack, he sat with Mina and Twilight, the slightly dazed form of Jock resting beside them. Looking up at the stars he picked out the different constellations to show his apprentice. "...and that one is the Tarnished Door Knob. Over to the right of that is the One Eyed Elephant on a Three Wheeled Cart..."

_Snuffles has been quiet lately. I hope everything is alright._

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on March 15, 2008 01:26 PM :

Jake studied Jeannie as she revealed a glib version of events to him and with it her fears over his concern. He grinned a wolfish grin, what other kind can a werewolf give?

_One is glad that you've been keeping yourself busy._

Okay, so maybe he'd been in wolf form for a bit too long, but being around those wolves couldn't have helped either. When Jeannie asked him about his scar he looked at his side and then back up at her.

_One miss-read the instructions on a cork-screw._

Was his only answer, it was clear it was something he was unwilling to divulge. After a pause he spoke again.

_It's been a long journey and one has had little opportunity to hunt. Is there any food?_

Yeah, he should really think about changing back, although at the moment would be an in-opportune time as his clothes were in the coach, which happened to be on the other side of the clearing. No matter how forgiving the group might be, the sight of a naked strange streaking across the camp might arouse suspicion, although some would argue that an over-sized black wolf might do the same thing, only with added weapons.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 15, 2008 02:08 PM :

Jeannie raised her eyebrows at Jakes peculiar speech, but didn't make any comment. If he had been with the wolves and not changed to human shape at all since whatever had happened to him then he was bound to have picked up one or two traits

She nodded towards the temporary camp, amongst the shapes of the others she could see Patrick. He seemed to be…talking to a rabbit? She shook her head and sighed, perhaps this quest was getting to the others more than she thought, she turned her head back to look at Jake

"We've got a few provisions, you're welcome to them if you're hungry"

An idea sprang up in her mind at the mention of food, the past few days had reminded her of the thrill of hunting and apart from her brief instruction to Annie she hadn't hunted with another werewolf for years…but he was probably too tired and hungry from his trek after the coach. So instead of mentioning it she shifted her position so that she was now kneeling. A owl hooted somewhere above them, Jeannie could hear the scurrying of small creatures amongst the brambles and grasses as they ran from the Hoot of Death, a tiny field mouse ran right over her left boot, froze, looked up at her, squeaked and made a sharp left where it disappeared into a small clump of grass. Jeannie watched it vanish then looked back up to the wolf in front of her,

"We brought your stuff with us too, didn't seem right to just leave it at the inn. I'll get it for you if you want?"

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on March 15, 2008 02:40 PM :

As Jeannie escorted the large black wolf through the campsite, Jake nodded to Patrick.

_It is good to see you, perhaps you and Patrick could catch one up as one eats._

The wolf form was always a fun one, but the human one had hands and those were a definite advantage when trying to unload luggage. Jake was certainly grateful for Jeannie's help, it would certainly have been…difficult, if he had tried to bite his bag open and rummage around in it. Selecting what he needed he moved to the outer edges of the firelight, hoping that the gloom and the party's ruined night vision would protect his modesty. When he re-appeared it was Jake. He moved more like a predator though, his movements were efficient and graceful and he appeared to retain the aloofness of a wolf, but so much time in one form might be harder to shake off than usual.

"Well…I'm back."

He said to her quietly, he had chosen a white shirt and dark trousers, simple yet elegant. He was barefoot though, Jake always found shoes the hardest things to wear after such a long time in wolf form, felt un-natural somehow. He moved closer to Jeannie and looked at her with human eyes for a moment before embracing her warmly, disengaging and moving towards the fire. With the flickering orange light under-lighting his face he turned to Patrick.

"It's good to see you again Patrick, could I have a quick word."

The meat was dried, but it was filling, he tore off a piece and began to chew, waiting for his two friends to gather with him round the fire. In this form, the shirt concealed most of the scar, but the top end of it was clear on his neck, just above the collar. He took another bite and chewed.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 15, 2008 03:29 PM :

When Jake embraced her Jeannie murmured quietly

"It's so good to see you"

She smiled at him as he pulled away and once he was seated she joined him by the fireside. Patrick followed soon after and the three of them sat together, illuminated by the flames.

As Jake ate, Jeannie and Patrick told him what had happened since he'd disappeared. About the assault on the ferals and Samsons betrayal, leaving them to face the ferals. Jeannie mentioned the fight with Alecs brother, but stopped mid-sentence as though unsure whether to carry on

"…anyway, regardless of the details, he's dead"

She left it at that, she didn't want to talk about her emerging from the cave, blood soaked and driven like a wild thing until she almost attacked her friends. She moved the conversation onwards quickly before anyone else could slip it into the discussion.

Between the two of them Jeannie and Patrick covered all recent events. If one of them forgot something the other interjected with the details.

They told him that after the battle with the werewolves they went back to the inn, the Client approached them and tried to convince them to hand over the box. So they'd made a hasty exit and, had been travelling ever since. The conversation reached the part where Samson had been killed. Jeannie lowered her voice out of respect for Lilah and gave Jake the sombre details.

"…so then we buried him. We were back on the road soon after and there's not really much else to tell. That little blue lump over there is the Feegle I told you about, he's probably sleeping off the _entire_ bottle of Bearhuggers he filched from our supplies bag"

She lent back on her hands, brushed a tray lock of hair out of her eyes and looked sideways at Patrick "Our esteemed wizard friend here wants us to visit a friend of his, so I guess that's our next destination"

She sat quietly, having told Jake the details of their journey that had been mixed with tedium and tragedy. The scar that peeked out of his shirt collar intrigued her but she knew not to push him for the details

Posted by **Max aka Helicopterpassoverhead** (Member # 3874) on March 15, 2008 08:25 PM :

Snuffles was not himself at all lately. Feeding off rodents and birds just didn't do it any more. He also didn't sleep well. Apart from the constant urge to uncurl and lengthen himself on the ground, with his arms folded across his chest, the short cat naps he had always taken would only make him more and more tired. And he was uncomfortable during the day. Not the usual kind of 'Aaa, what a warm day it is, I think I'll take a na- zzzzz.' feeling, but a kind of 'Argh! I must avert my eyes! Where is my coffin! I am melting! Meltiiiing!' feeling. However, he was definitley not melting. His fur would be all messed up if he was. And that was another thing. He didn't wash himself anymore. Licking himself seemed disgusting, and getting into contact with water was not an option. And because of all the dust he would sneeze and feel out of place. A cat should be at home wherever it is. To cut a long story short, something was happening and he didn't know what.*

*It is still unknown wether cats are experiencing puberty or if they have a 'Get Out Of Jail Free' card. Anyway, what Snuffles was experiencing was like puberty, only worse.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 16, 2008 05:59 AM :

Lilah watched the wolf follow JEannie across the campsite, to the coach, then it dissapear into the bushes. A man stepped out in its place, a few minutes later.

_that must be the friend Jeannie was talking about..._

The sight of them being so intimate made Lilah sob, but even though she did so quietly, they still seemed to know she was awake, as Jeannie lowered her voice to talk about...well Lilah assumed they were talking about her. everyone lowered their voice when they talked about what she'd done.

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 16, 2008 06:20 AM :

Jock woke up, and instantly regretted it. He decided to alleviate the pain by shouting*.

"CRIVENS. Ach, ma heid, ah canna think straight... more whisky is wha' ah need"

And with that he jumped off the coach and into the campsite, only to find himself surrounded by people he didn't recognise**. In his current state, his only coherent thought was _FIGHT _, so he proceeded to attack them, feeling in some instinctive way that this would make him feel better...

*Feegles were not slaves to logic when it came to hangovers.  
**This may have been the hangover, or the appearence of Jake.

[ March 16, 2008, 06:22 AM: Message edited by: Jock ]

Posted by **Lady Aurora Of Quirm** (Member # 5718) on March 16, 2008 11:09 AM :

In the distance, hoof beats thud down on the ground, rapidly approaching, accompanied by the whinnying of a terrified horse and the braying of what appears to be a donkey.

Hurtling into the clearing comes a black stallion, bearing a rider of fearsome aspect, all in black, blonde hair streaming back on the wind, hauling on the reins and shouting incoherent battle cries.

In a trice, menace turns to mishap, as the horse stumbles in a rabbit hole and the rider pitches headlong into the middle of the group, and fetches up against the coach with a sickening THUD, in the process temporarily flattening the hungover Feegle

The horse, relieved of its burden, gallops madly off into the distance.

The rider remains slumped by the coach wheel, long blonde hair trailing down over her black leather cape and tunic.

In the distance, the braying of a donkey nears, as does the sound of several pairs of running footsteps.

[ March 16, 2008, 11:25 AM: Message edited by: Lady Aurora Of Quirm ]

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 16, 2008 12:30 PM :

Broc smiled at Lilah's story, He was about to reply when the horse galloped into the clear and its rider went flying. He stood up quickly and hurried over to the now horseless rider. He helped the rider up

"Oh, jeez, You okay?"

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on March 16, 2008 12:59 PM :

Patrick had been about to unleash a fire ball on the blue menace when the Feegle was suddenly taken out by the falling stranger.

_I'd swear somebody around here is leaving a trail of crumbs!_

Not knowing what to make of the new arrival yet, Patrick turned his attention back to Jake. He was glad to see Jake rejoin the group. He had proven himself to be a good friend.

"Something on your mind?"

Before he forgot, the wizard added, "I think it might be in our best interest to visit Granny. I'm thinking while we are in her company we'll all be just a bit safer for a minute. Plus, she might be able to tell us more about getting rid of this....thing."

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on March 16, 2008 01:14 PM :

Mina looked up at the sky. She didn't really remember the names the wizard told her, but she noddes anyway. She noticed the rabbit, and once it ran off she said loudly in a giggly voice  
'Why did you call that rabbit Granny?! Do you have a granny rabbit? Mummy told me a story about a granny hedgehog once. It washed clothes.'

Mina had spent almost the whole day asleep, so she was just thinking about protesting against a forced bed-time when something came skidding into the clearing at around the same time that Jock woke and started attacking the newcomer. Mina gasped in shock.

[ March 16, 2008, 01:16 PM: Message edited by: Mina Harker ]

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on March 16, 2008 01:50 PM :

Orcakeline was distracted by the newcomer and heard a awoke from her long dream and remembered where she saw the feegle get off the coach and young Mina waking up.

_Who's the rider?It's not a rider on the storm and neither is he an 's a too much of a normal rider to be true..._ thought the dwarf.

Orcakeline took a comb,arranged her hair and headed to the helped Broc help the rider up and asked:

"Are you OK?What happened?"and proceeded with a pleasant voice : "Are you hungry?Maybe you would like to rest!"

The dwarf smiled and looked towards the her gaze stopped on the rider awaiting for some answers.

Posted by **Lady Aurora Of Quirm** (Member # 5718) on March 16, 2008 02:55 PM :

The rider staggers to her feet, helped up by her two new companions, and wiggles her head and neck back and forth. There's a click and she sighs.

"Goddess, that HURT", she says in a dazed voice. "My name is Aurora, my horse got bitten by a wolf and he ran wild"

She looks around at you - she is very pale, with long blonde hair and dark, almost black, eyes. She's about 5'9" in height, slim, clad in a black leather tunic and leggings and wearing a black leather cape. She wears a rapier on one side and a dagger (almost a small sword) on the other of a broad leather belt.

At which point a lathered donkey (with perhaps more than the regulation number of legs, it's hard to be sure) comes stumbling into the clearing and a small (teenage?) girl bounds off its back and heads towards the party crying out "Mithtreth, mithtreth, are you hurt?" and then in almost the same breath draws herself up to her full 4'5" height and cries out in a ringing voice "beware! You handle the Lady Aurora Thtormchild of Quirm, Baronetethth of the Royal Court!"

Aurora sighs. "Igorette, do you understand the term _incognito_ by any chance?"

"Thorry mithtreth!"

"It's alright. It's true, I am indeed Lady Aurora Stormchild of Quirm, although my circumstances are somewhat diminished of late. I would be grateful for somewhere to sit and catch my breath" she looks gratefully at the dwarf.

From underneath the somewhat lathered donkey, (unnoticed until now) a small black box about two feet by one in size sidles cautiously towards Aurora on lots of little legs - said legs clad in somewhat torn fishnet stockings. Everyone gets the feeling that the box is looking at them, even though it has no eyes, with suspicion and not a little nervousness. If a box could tremble, this one was trembling. Caught in the the box lid is a lank of greasy grey hair.

"Open." Aurora says. And the box opens and Igorette immediately pulls the greasy hair out of the way and then gets the following out of the box:

One folding chair

One small folding table

An elegant porcelain tea service for 4

A steaming porcelain teapot

"Tea anyone?" says Aurora brightly. She seems totally recovered from what must have been a horrendous collision with the coach.

[ March 16, 2008, 03:01 PM: Message edited by: Lady Aurora Of Quirm ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 16, 2008 03:23 PM :

Jeannie glared at the stranger

"Sure, just make yourself at home!"

There was something else that was bugging her about the newcomer, and not the way that she had so rudely settled herself into the camp without so much as a by your leave, that was just a minor annoyance. She didn't say anything for now, instead she stood up and walked out of the campsite. Once she was a fair distance away she took a deep breath of the night air to get rid of the scent that had riled her, it wasn't strong that was true but it was unmistakable.

She found a quiet area close enough to the camp that she could reach them quickly if they needed her, but far enough away that she could cool her temper. Muttering to herself angrily she sat down in the same position she had been in when Jake had appeared earlier, knees up, arms folded across them. Just glaring at the landscape as though it had done something to personally offend her...

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 16, 2008 05:39 PM :

_AAARGH! not her!_

Lilah watched in horrible facination as the rider picked herself up off the ground and introfuced herself. Lilah curled up more, pretending even harder to go to sleep. She remembered what Aurora had been like at the Quirm College for Young Ladies. Then the teaset was brought out and set up.

_some things dont change...._

school....that seemed so long ago. She never got to graduate, things she still refused to think about were the reason for that, but she had gone there for a while. Such a different person, so long ago...

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on March 16, 2008 07:14 PM :

Twilight watched the newcomer suspiciously, being sure to stay close to Mina. But, this person didn't seem to be much of a threat. When the teaset was brought out, Twilight suddenly found herself relaxing. This girl had all of the signs: arrogant, well adjusted, just moving into the background of wherever she was, she even carried around her own teaset! If ever a cat was reincarnated as a human, this girl would be the end result. Twilight comfortably transformed into her human form and walked up to Aurora. If there was one thing that cat's knew, it was class

_If no one else is going to welcome this girl, it might as well be me_\

"Good evening," she greeted cheerfully, giving a small bow in Aurora's direction, "My name is Twilight, it's nice to meet you"

Posted by **Lady Aurora Of Quirm** (Member # 5718) on March 16, 2008 08:14 PM :

Aurora blinks in surprise as one of the ladies of the party walks off in a huff, leather cape swishing.

"Doesn't she _like_ tea? Oh well everyone's different." She looks over towards the huddled person by the fire and a small frown mars her eyebrows for a minute, before disappearing as she turns towards Twilight and beams happily at her.

"Hello Twilight dear, I'm Aurora, do sit down."

Igorette rapidly produces another chair from the little black box as Aurora pours tea.

"We won't stand on ceremony or anything, the middle of a Uberwald clearing at midnight is hardly the place", she gushes

She turns to the rest of the party "Do please just call me Aurora" (Igorette winces and shakes her head sadly) "and I'm sure we'll get on famously. I have more chairs in the box"  
(Igorette holds up two fingers)  
"so feel free to sit down and take tea. The one thing I do not have, sadly, is much in the way of food except biscuits,"  
(Igorette holds up two fists and knocks them together)  
"oh yes, and dwarf bread."

She turns to look at Igorette, and smiles winsomely "Can you get my horse for me dear? It won't have gone far."

"Yeth mithreth" Igorette sighs, mounts her donkey (yes it does have six legs) and trots off after the horse.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 16, 2008 10:22 PM :

Broc went back to sit next to Lilah. He looked at her and noticed that she looked very emmbarassed.

"I think someone's slightly jeoulous and very emmbarassed."

He smiled at her.

Samson opened his eyes...and stared at dirt. several thoughts went through his head, and here they are in order

1. Hey! I'm alive!!!

2. wait...why am i not breathing

3. or my heart beating

4. oh god why did i just try to inhale. now my lungs are full of dirt.

5. great now im just like my dad.

6. why did i have to be the only son who turns out to be like there dad.

7. wait...what

With a great heave Samson pushed his way out and climbed out.

"Ha! I'm back and ready to rock and roll!"

Samson shouted. Then he promptley fell to pieces.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 17, 2008 03:52 AM :

"Im not jealous" Lilah muttered, just loud enough for Broc to hear, as she was still pretending to be asleep. "If i wanted tea parties i'd go home. ITs hardly the place for it. Anyway, check out the box. That looks like hair coming out of it. Didnt think they could grow hair..." she left it at that. ""Anyway, why would the Baroness be out riding this late at night without a proper escort? One young Igorina isnt enough."

Lilah hoped, however that she wouldnt be recognised. She'd changed a lot since she knew Aurora, and most people she'd known from back then didnt recognise her. But then, most hardly remembered her.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 17, 2008 06:10 AM :

Jeannie stayed where she was, Anyone looking at her might think that the tree a few feet away from her had done somthing to upset her from the way she was angrily staring at it. This bad mood was nothing personal against Lady Aurora, Jeannie didn't know her well enough to form an opinion one way or the other, but it was the scent that Jeannie had caught from the woman. It was faint, diluted probably meaning that Aurora was a few generations away from the family member who had brought this particular trait to her bloodline. But faint or not, this scent always triggered a response in a werewolf.

Jeannie realised she was so angry her body wanted to change, a typical response. She could feel her skin tingling and her bones wanting to grow and change, but she fought it back. Anger meant reduced control over the wolf and Jeannie had had enough of that for the moment. She lay back and looked at the stars, something Lilah had said came back to her, about the stars being lost loved ones. Nice thought Jeannie mused. Her rage began to col as she watched their twinkling blinking lights...

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on March 17, 2008 10:15 AM :

He said nothing as Jeannie and Patrick spoke to him, he merely chewed on the meat slowly and drinking it in. If he was concerned by Samson's death or the reactions of the party, he gave no signs and only appeared to react when they told him they were headed to see Granny Weatherwax.

"An Infamous witch."

He wondered how well a witch and a werewolf would get a long, but decided to keep his concerns to himself. Standing smoothly he moved to Patrick.

"I'd appreciate a word when you are able."

That said he continued out of the clearing, as any werewolf knew there was always a period after the change where the morphic field needed to re-adjust, after such a long time in his wolf form Jake felt it all the more keenly and right now the wolf was telling him that being in a place with only one entrance meant that there was only one way out.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 17, 2008 10:47 AM :

The night sky was inky black, it was a clear night without a cloud in the sky so the moon shone in all it's glory and the stars that peppered the midnight sky were bright and numerous. Jeannie had fallen into quiet contemplation, her eyes fixed on the astronomical view, her hair spread out amongst the soft grass on which she lay. Her hands were resting on her stomach and she had one leg bent at the knee.

Jeannies brow occasionaly knotted into a small frown as she thought. There was plenty to think about, she thought about how all this had started, what had happened. Had Alec got her letter? Was the box relativly 'safe' for now? What was this Client? Where the hell had that Baroness come from and why was she now having a tea party in their camp? And now they were going to see Granny Weatherwax. Jeannie had a feeling this was certainly going to be an unusual encounter, but she couldn't help a faint feeling of hope that Granny might be able to suggest a way to render the box safe that didn't involve traipsing all the way to Cori Celesti

She heard footsteps leaving the camp, her head raised up long enough to see it was Jake and she relaxed again. She resumed her star gazing and let herself wander back into her thoughts

Posted by **Lady Aurora Of Quirm** (Member # 5718) on March 17, 2008 11:22 AM :

Aurora continues to dispense tea, as Igorette comes back with a somewhat hangdog black stallion in tow. Close up, the party realise just how BIG this horse is. It is a full seventeen hands high, and is clearly a warhorse.

Igorette rubs the horse down and leaves it to graze, and returns to Aurora's side.

Aurora discloses that she is on a journey to see the Low King of the dwarfs, to give him a gift from her father. Unfortunately either through malice on the part of Uberwald locals, or through her own sense of misdirection ("mapth, never trutht thtrange mapth," mutters Igorette) she has got herself utterly lost.

She appeals to Twilight for help - are the party sufficiently familiar with the Uberwald to point her in the right direction?

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on March 17, 2008 04:03 PM :

Twilight looked up at Aurora's question

"Hmm?" she says, "Oh, well, I'm not very familiar with it at all, I've only been here for a few days, but I grew up back in Ankh-Morpork." She glanced in the general direction of where Jeannie had wandered off to

"But, Jeannie was born here, and I'm fairly certain that Jake was, as well, so I'm sure one of them could give you proper directions"

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 18, 2008 05:09 AM :

Jock woke up...again

His last thought was to fight the strangers, but then there had been a rush and something tall and black had stood on him. Getting to his feet, he shook his head and looked around the campsite. His hangover had gone, but the strangers remained, and there seemed to be an awful lot of them. There was a man, wary and jumpy, pacing about the camp; a girl sitting on a chair at a table with a tea set, talking to twilight; and finally a…well he supposed it was a young girl, but she seemed to have far too many fingers and her eyes were very different heights…and colours when he looked closer. He sauntered over to the table where Twilight was, only slightly impeded by his persistent dizziness, and clambered up onto the table. Grasping hold of one of the cups, he proceeded to drink heartily, some vague recollection of polite society customs causing to stick out one small blue digit as he drank (he couldn't remember which one it was supposed to be though…)

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on March 18, 2008 06:25 AM :

Patrick followed Jake out of the clearing at a slow pace. He wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but he was normally slow on the uptake.

"Yes Jake? What's on your mind?"

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on March 18, 2008 10:19 AM :

Mina looked round and decided that she had been a bit forgotten. In order to reverse this state of affairs, she got up and looked for someone to talk to. The Lady person was surrounded by people and seemed rather intimidating. She chuckled at the sight of the feegle drinking tea, and then noticed a young funny-looking girl with a big, big horse. Mina went up to her.  
'Hello, you look like Igor. He was at the ember-see. Your horse is very very big... can it talk? Lots of animals can.'

Mina went up to the horse and patted its leg.

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 18, 2008 02:06 PM :

Jock was in the middle of a large gulp of tea when he heard a loud bang and started, dropping the cup and spitting out the liquid in his mouth, smattering the rather handsomely dressed lady holding the teapot and looking at the feegle who had invaded her tea party in horror. Jock looked around the camp, but none of the rest of the party seemed to have been the cause, or even noticed, the noise. Looking up Jock was vaguely alarmed to see a black cape plummeting towards the earth. This struck Jock as odd, but as it neared the earth he could see that it was worn by a rather spindly human, clutching tightly to the hat on her head. As she neared the ground, Jock realized that the person would hit the ground exactly where this rather civilized party was taking place. Leaping off the table, Jock cried out to Davey, who had been trying to get Mina's attention, and the pair picked up each chair and the table in quick succession, depositing each at the opposite end of the clearing moments before the person who had been falling landed heavily upon the earth, and slumped down unconscious from the impact. Jock ran over to the girl, as he could see it was now, and began tapping her on the chest; gently, then more firmly when no reaction was given until finally he began to jump up and down on her chest, when suddenly she bolted upright…


	8. Chapter 8

Posted by **William the Gonnagle** (Member # 5684) on March 18, 2008 02:12 PM :

"Oh no, oh no, oh no!" muttered Milly under her breath, as the broomstick bucked and twisted. "Not good!"

The ground seemed to be rather closer than it should be, and the bits Milly could see of it looked distinctly sharp and rocky. Desperately, she held onto her hat, while trying to control the broom. Her cape, which she now seriously regretted wearing, flapped around her. She had a nasty suspicion it made her look like a giant, out-of-control bat.

Just then, she caught sight of movement below her. A group of travellers seemed to be having a tea party, right at the place she was heading for.  
"MOVE!" she yelled. "Of all the stupid places to have a tea party..." (The thought that this might be slightly unfair didn't cross her mind). No one appeared to have heard her, so she threw her weight to one side, in an unsuccessful attempt to steer. This was the last straw for the failing broom. It upended itself and headed straight for the ground.  
Milly swallow hard.  
"Oh...BLAST!" she screamed as she ploughed into the earth just where the travellers had been a few seconds before. Then everything went black.

***

The first thing that Milly saw when she woke was a small blue man jumping on her chest. She leapt up, feeling that even if all other dignity was lost, there was no need to allow a man anywhere near her chest, especially not one as small as this. Why Miss Garlick would have a fit if she knew. Straightening her hat, which was now concertina shaped, with a large rip near the brim, she grinned sheepishly around the group.

"Er...hi?" she ventured "Umm, I seem to have interrupted something. Wasn't that rude of me!". She gave an embarrased giggle, wishing she could sink through the ground.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on March 18, 2008 03:31 PM :

Broc screamed when the girl ploughed into the ground...very girlishly. He ignored what hed just done and headed over to the girl. he offered his hand to help her up.

"It seems to be my, and patricks, lucky day. It's almost like it been raining women. Want a help up? Though, beware, you may end up with my arm. I am a zombie."

He gave a charming smile

"Intertupt...no...just put to an end."

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on March 18, 2008 04:50 PM :

Orcakeline looked at expressed a somewhat entrance produces her surprise and not the best of made a funny entrance and that satisfied the entrances...yes..the kind of thing her friend back in A-M used to do.

"Oh,hi!Er,I'm of the Ankh-Morpork tower."and taking a deep breathe"Oh,yes,a tea wouldn't be bad in the circumstances we're you got any sugar too?"

Igorette handed the dwarf a little paper containing some sugar.

"Why, thank you!"and Orcakeline helped herself to the sugar.

While Orcakeline proved her good manners showing how come she knew to handle a cup of tea and drink it like a princes,she turned her head and noticed Jeannie stay close to a tree.

Orcakeline went towards dwarf smiled at Jeannie.A simple smile,meant to cheer anybody up.

"Hey, OK?Did anythin' happen?"

Orcakeline stopped and winced towards Aurora.

"Is it the Baroness that annoys you?Well,even thou it is absurd having a tea party in the _middle_ of Uberwald,especially near a forest,look on the bright side,it is so funny you cannot refuse a ,and about all this,imagine that if she'll be saying a time she'll end up being like us,plus we can use her ,if she goes away,it's the same ...don't stay here so calm and thoughtful,come have a cup of isn't bad at all!"

Orcakeline said and gave Jeannie a hand to stand up.

"Come on!You'll see it isn't that bad!"

..........................

The crash was hard and it almost produced Orcakeline a was just helping Jeannie up when the young witch pulled Jeannie up first quite fast and turned to was she?How many people where going to enter the party today?

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 18, 2008 05:24 PM :

Lilah heard the Feegle yelling, then a thud. There was a few more moments of panic, then Lilah sat up, and surveyed the area. Another girl had landed at their feet, and people were already worrying over her. Lilah stood up.

"Hey!" Lilah shouted, trying to get everyones attention. They all shut up, and looked at her.  
"I hate to break up this little tea part - oh, someones already done that - but we need to get moving. Someone, or something here is acting as a beacon, and if we dont get rid of it the Client WILL find us." _as will everyone else._

she smiled, sweetly. "So lets go, shall we?

Posted by **Lady Aurora Of Quirm** (Member # 5718) on March 18, 2008 07:10 PM :

Aurora calmly took charge of the clear up of the now irretrievably ruined tea set, after first asking if the newly arrived witch needed her Igorette's assistance, and at her orders Igorette efficiently put all the chairs and the table back in the box. Igorette then quickly picked up what was left of the tea set, wrapped it into the tablecloth and plopped the lot in the box.

Aurora looked concerned at mentions of beacons leading people to the party, "Who *is* this Client?" she asked Lilah, then did a double-take and said "Ah Lilah dear, you do seem to keep unusual company these days, but I'm impressed, you used to be so shy and self-effacing at the academy. Are you the leader of this little band?"

She asked Igorette to saddle up Midnight, remarking to Mina that yes her horse could speak, but not everyone could understand animals, and yes Igorette was an Igorina-in-training, with especial skills in veterinary work and tailoring ("I believe someone could do with an emergency kapeloplasty¹.")

Then she waited to see what the party decided to do.

¹hat reforming / hat surgery

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 19, 2008 03:14 AM :

Jeannie smiled at the dwarf

"Thanks but I'd prefer to stay here for a bit longer"

Although admittedly she did want to talk privately with Patrick, she looked over towards the camp and saw him walking out after Jake...ah well, she would have to wait to speak with him. As a perfect cue to distract her there was a loud scream followed by a resounding thump. Instinctivly Jeannie begane to race back to the campsite, her minds eye flashing with vision of the Client or one of his cohorts wreaking havoc and destruction among the group...she slowed when it became apparant that the commotion was yet another vistor, judging by the hat and broomstick this one appeared to be a witch. Everyone seemed to be taking care of the situation so Jeannie shrugged to herself and turned to go back to her place on the grass, the clearing was fast becoming too crowded there was barely room to swing a cat...although she didn't think Twilight would appreciate testing that theory

Before she could leave the area again Lilah stood and spoke, Jeannie stepped up beside her and nodded looking round at the rest of the group with folded arms. Sergeant Jeannie spoke, carefull ignoring Aurora question about The Client. Travellers on a quest didn't tend to divulge sensitive informaiton about their quest to people they didn't know

"Lilah's right, with this amount of people we are going to attract plenty of unwanted attention. Lady Aurora, it's been a pleasure." Jeannies eyes said otherwise, her nose tried not to breath in the scent that rankled her so much "As for directions, head for a town named Bonk and I'm sure some kind person will direct you to the Low King from there"

She looked at the witch "Miss, I strongly suggest you pratice your flying lessons. I'm glad to see you appear not to be hurt, however if you are in need of medical assisstance I'm sure Lady Auroras companion can be of some help in that matter"

The witch got a friendly, concerned smile from her then Jeannie looked at the others

"We need to get moving, all this commotion could have attracted the attentions of gods only knows what. Time to break camp, I'll go and let Jake and Patrick know we are getting ready to move out. Broc, hitch up the horses please"

Before she left to find them, Jeannie turned to face Lilah and spoke to her in a low voice trying to hide the questioning concern she felt for the young woman who was still obviously full of angry grief

"How you holding up?" she smiled a half smile "I still have a bottle of bearhuggers that I've managed to hide from the Feegle, fancy joining me in a drink when we get back on the road? I think we deserve a bit of fun after the past couple of days"

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 19, 2008 03:55 AM :

_You stupid stupid girl!_

Lilah couldnt believe she'd mentioned the client to Aurora. Of all the dumb things...

She shrugged in response to Auroras comment abouthow much she had changed. The 'my dear' grated on her nerves. "Yet you, darling, seem to have not changed at all."

Jeannie took over from her outburst, and started to get the group packing up.

"Im surviving" she responded, in the same low tones as Jeannie. "A drink sounds good. Its been a while."

She looked back up at the sky for a moment. Samson had been the last person she'd drank with, and...

the thought trailed off as she realised that the star she'd decided was him, had dissapeared.

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on March 19, 2008 04:23 AM :

The dwarf heard Jeannie's ,alas,many answers came back negative when Orcakeline made invitations and tried to comfort people.

She remembered yet again her friend.

Last time they spoke she tried to comfort him after what happened to him that mother died.

"OK" Orcakeline said turning to Jeannie.

The dwarf looked at the second was tired and this day was completely stupid!Everything was upside down.

The dwarf was feeling more clumsy from moment to was getting to wasn't anything like a curse or a flu.

Orcakeline had the strange sensation that she was closed in a tiny room and many bats were hiding form her trying to get the right moment in which to got up to her feet and went to the started taking and packing things.

When she finished doing everything she could do,she felt much better.A feeling that they were going away released her.

[ March 20, 2008, 01:22 PM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **William the Gonnagle** (Member # 5684) on March 19, 2008 06:26 AM :

"Oh it's ok, I'm not hurt" said Milly, in response to the offers of help from various members of the party. She dusted herself off and looked around for her broom. Half of it was lying on the ground, and the other half seemed to be stuck in a nearby bush. "Oh dear," muttered Milly under her breath, "How on earth do I get home now?"

She looked around her, hoping to find some indication of where they were. However all she could see were mountains, all of which looked the same to her.

"Um, excuse me?" she said to the group in general, "Do you know where we are? Only, I have to get back home to Lancre and...and I..." inspiration came to her in the form of Granny Weatherwax. "I know where I am, obviously, I mean I'm a witch, but not where everything else is in relation to me!" she nodded to herself. That was a real witch answer. It was all about style, afetr all.

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on March 19, 2008 06:47 AM :

Jock looked startled at being plucked off the witch so unceremoniously, but listening in on conversation a sense of awe came over him. If she was from lancre, then she would know Granny Weatherwax, a figure of great authority within the feegle clans as she knew about the whole species quite intimately.  
He wandered over to where the witch was dusting herself off, and smilling nervously at the camp.

"De ye ha' the knowin o' the haggin an'...de ye ken the Hag o' Hags, erm...wha' did ye say yer name was again?"

Jock was uncharacteristicly bashful in the presence of the witch. It was not just the magic, but something about witches made feegles feel wholly inferior, a quality that Wizards lacked. He wrung his hands and looked at his feet while he waited for an answer...

Posted by **Lady Aurora Of Quirm** (Member # 5718) on March 19, 2008 06:59 AM :

Aurora thanked Jeannie for the directions to Bonk, but expressed her concern that miscreants might be abroad, or even a-near much less abroad.

She asked Jeannie (who is now clearly the leader of the party) if the party would mind if she and Igorette accompanied them a while longer.

"I do have more resources than a teaset in my Vanity, and would be happy to help in the defence of the group. Igorette is also a very competent medic, though I am not sure what she can do with broomsticks"

She asked the witch if she'd mind lending the broken broom to Igorette to see what she can do.

Posted by **Igorette** (Member # 5717) on March 19, 2008 07:12 AM :

Igorette wondered why Jock was looking at her so oddly. Anyone would think thhe was a monthter or thomething, she thought to herself. Having captured the black stallion she rubbed it down at the same time as whispering in its ear that if it ever, ever tried that on again, it would neither be a thtallion, black or 4 legged ever again. Though thick as two planks, the message seemed to sink in. "Tch," Igorette thought, "brainth and beauty never theem to mix, exthept in her cathe, of courthe. There are extheptionth to every rule."

Igorette looked up into the sky and saw the witch heading for the tea party. "Oh no, not the thodding tea cupth again. Igorette glanced towards her Mistress, who seemed quite unaware of the impending disaster. "Therveth her right" she thought, "If it'th not mending the crockery or patching up the leather bitth and bobth it wath chathing thodding great hortheth all over the thop!"

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 19, 2008 07:28 AM :

Jeannie looked cooley at the Baroness

"If your goal lies behind us I don't see the logic in accompanying us away from Uberwald"

What she wanted to add, but didn't was _I know what you are and I will not travel with one of you no matter how many human ancestors have watered down the blood in your veins_  
but to do this would be to reveal how she knew and then there would be another 'so you see, I'm actually a werewolf' conversation.

So she left her statement hanging in the air, to the others it probably seemed incredibly rude but apart from her own personal reasons Jeannie was starting to fear for the saftey of the group. So many people posed a huge risk of attracting attention and Jeannie was still bound to protect Mina and Patrick and complete their orginal mission. One traitor had already worked his way into the group, okay so he'd been killed but it didn't mean it couldn't happen again if they weren't a damn sight more careful

Turning back to Lilah she smiled and put a hand on her shoulder

"Then let's get ready to roll. I'll go get the others"

And Jeannie began to head out of the camp, to walk in the direction she had seen Jake and Patrick go in. She walked noisily so it wouldn't seem as though she was sneaking up on them. From what Jeannie could tell they were having a private conversation and she didn't want to interrupt. She would just tell them that they were moving on then leave the men to finish their chat

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on March 19, 2008 09:38 AM :

Jake looked at the wizard for a while before speaking, as though he was trying to make a difficult decision. Despite their distance from the camp, Jake lowered his voice, unwilling to take a chance.

"During my…absence from the party, I came into possession of this."

He took out a small pouch, we had concealed under his shirt. He pulled the drawstring and without taking it out, showed it to Patrick. The small item inside glinted as the small pin pricks of light from the sky illuminated it. It was a medium sized disk embossed with some design that was obscured by it being in the pouch. Pulling the draw string again he handed it to Patrick.

It's silver, hence the reason I didn't take it out of the bag. I would be very grateful if you would destroy it. I don't really mind how, just as long as it is gone."

He went quiet then just watching the man before him, it was clear that Jake was going to give no further explanation of the disk or his reasons for his desire that it be destroyed.

Posted by **Lady Aurora Of Quirm** (Member # 5718) on March 19, 2008 11:12 AM :

"I would actually prefer to keep company with you for my own safety if nothing else" Aurora said to Jeannie, "from what I can gather you are being pursued by someone with considerable resources and I have no wish to encounter them if they are following your trail"

Aurora let Jeannie meet with the wizard and the other man (to who she has not yet been introduced) and then went to have a quiet chat with the two men, stating that she is concerned about this mysterious "client" who has Jeannie and Lilah spooked enough to move camp.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 19, 2008 05:16 PM :

Lilah forced herself to stop staring at the stars, then looked at Broc. Could you actually inherit a trait like that? Or was it jsut a personality thing?

_hes dead, Lilah. He's not coming back_

Lilah realised it was just wishful thinking. Stars die too, she'd just chosen one near its end.

She noticed that Aurora had wandered off to speak to Patrick and Jeannies friend. She was obviously trying to work out who was the leader of this group...but why? Aurora tended to believe she was the authority on anything, in any situation, and over anyone. And the fact that she wanted to stick with them, even though they were going in the completely opposite direction to her was worrying too.

[ March 19, 2008, 05:18 PM: Message edited by: adie ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on March 19, 2008 05:23 PM :

"Then your logic is even more flawed than I first suspected" replied Jeannie to Aurora before walking away to find Jake and Patrick "You suspect we are being followed by something dangerous so instead of going ahead with your own business you feel it would be safer to follow us thus associating yourself with the group that this thing is allegedly following and therefore not only going in the complete opposite direction to your goal but also putting yourself in danger?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Jeannie approached it seemed as though Jake had stopped speaking for a a moment, she took the opportunity to intersect briefly

"Sorry to interrupt guys but we're getting ready to move on. I'll see you at the coach"

She didn't wait for any gesture of acknowledgement, she knew they'd heard her and she walked quickly away so they could resume their conversation. Of course she was curious about what they were talking about but she had enough respect for her friends not to intrude on their privacy...unlike the newcomer apparently, Jeannie thought, as she saw the figure of the Baroness heading towards them. She seemd to be heading towards Patrick and Jake

_Oh no you don't, for all i know you are another minion of the Client or simply an opportunist bounty hunter sent after our 'luggage'...What I do know is you ain't getting anywhere near the people I'm supposed to be protecting_

Her briefing was to protect the wizard and his cargo, so despite the apparant show of bad manners Jeannie stood in front of Aurora who tried to move around her, Jeannie sidestepped in front of her again. After a few more moments of this Jeannie finally spoke

"What is it exactly that you want?"

When Aurora mentioned her concerns Jeannie glared and took a step forward

"You're _concerned_ for a group of people you have never met until about half an hour ago. Well let me make you feel better about that. Our business is none of your business and visa versa. Go back to your horse, go and play tea parties somewhere else. This is Watch business and I'm the commanding officer sent by the Watch to over see this little trip, so if you want to argue I can hand you over to the nearest authority under a charge of obstructing an officer during an investigation"

Speech over, Jeannie escorted the protesting Baroness back to the camp clearing away from Patrick and Jake. Keeping a careful eye on the Baroness Jeannie began to help Mina onto the coach, making sure the little girl was well wrapped up in blankets and would be warm and comfortable enough to get a good nights sleep. As she looked at the girls tired little face she felt sorry for all the things that had happened that the child had had to witness. Jeannies gaze softened and she settled down next to Mina for a while, talking to her about where they were going. Jeannie had a feeling Mistress Weatherwax would take a great interest in little Mina.

After a while Jeannie stepped back off the coach and looked around to see if they were almost ready to go...

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on March 19, 2008 05:36 PM :

At the feel of her chair suddenly being lifted and moved at an alarming speed, Twilight shifted her form and landed on the ground on her paws just in time to see the feegles carrying everything away. She relaxed for about a split second until she just barely dodged the renegade broom. Feeling wholly insulted, she decided to get back aboard the coach, as it seemed that they were going to move on again

Following Jeannie inside, Twilight hopped up and rested in the lap of young Mina, pawing the tired girl's hand to get her to stroke Twilight's back, she lay back with the small girl, purring and waited for the rest of the group to climb aboard

[ March 19, 2008, 05:38 PM: Message edited by: Blazing Moon ]

Posted by **Lady Aurora Of Quirm** (Member # 5718) on March 19, 2008 07:31 PM :

White with rage, Aurora marched back to the camp, and mounted Midnight.  
"Igorette, let us take our departure. Vanity, up!"  
Igorette mounted the donkey, and the Vanity hops up behind, its feet proving surprisingly prehensile in holding onto the crupper of the saddle.

At a sedate trot, the duo moved off, heading in the general direction of the deeper Uberwald, although at right angles to the party rather than in the opposite direction, in the general direction of Bonk.

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on March 20, 2008 02:55 AM :

Patrick took the pouch from Jake and immediately put it into one of the many pockest that seemes to inhabit his robes.

"I'll take care of it Jake. No problem."

He hadn't the time to take out the pouch and look at the contents in detail, Jeannie said they were ready to move again.

_He could have just buried it or dropped into a pond somewhere. Must be something else to all this..._

Watching the exchange between Jeannie and Aurora and the result of Aurora storming off in a rage, the wizard was glad he had friends around. By himself, he would not seen anythin wrong at first. Actually, by himself, he probably wouldn't have it out of the city.

"Let's go, shall we? We shouldn't be too far away from Granny now."

_If that was her back there in the woods before. Rabbits are not exactly known for their ability to cover large distances..._

Just as he sat back into his usual spot on the coach, Patrick felt a slight twinge. Not pain exactly, just something...weird.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on March 20, 2008 04:09 AM :

Lilah watched with smug satisfaction as Aurora rode away. She'd always gotten her own way at the college, it was nice to see that didnt extend to the real world.

Lilah threw her pack onto the top of the coach, climbed up, joining Patrick.  
"You right?" she asked, seeing something flicker across his face.

Lilah wondered where Jeannie had hidden the Bearhuggers. If Jock hadnt found it, the hiding place must be good. She sighed, and settled down, waiting for the coach to get moving again.

Posted by **Jake** (Member # 5102) on March 20, 2008 09:48 AM :

Jake stood for a moment, watching the retreating figure of Patrick and wondered if seeing Granny Weatherwax was really a good thing for a werewolf to do. Jake had never met the woman himself but he'd heard about the legend of course. A crotchety woman, wit ha no nonsense attitude and a very shrewd mind which she liked to keep under a very pointy hat. She seemed to be the complete antithesis of a werewolf. One went out of her way to make sure you knew who she was and the other did their best to blend in an not get on the wrong side of the watch.

He almost opened his mouth to tell them that he would catch them up, but decided that he'd not be able to come up with a believable reason, so he nimbly jump up onto he roof of the coach. His morphic field was still settling down and that mixed with his strong aversion to enclosed spaces would probably send him into a rage in a confined space, never a good thing. So for now he sat, saying nothing on the roof the coach.

Posted by **Lady Aurora Of Quirm** (Member # 5718) on March 20, 2008 10:34 AM :

Aurora rode away, her rage cooling quickly

_That didn't go too well,_ she thought. _If only Midnight hadn't bolted I might have been able to make a more sedate introduction to the party. Those wolves looked too focused by half, they just nipped Midnight to keep him out of the way. And when I found the party had a werewolf among their number, and in charge at that, I began to wonder if they were the ones controlling the wolves. Now it seems not. And if that witch hadn't disrupted the tea party, maybe I would have had a chance to warn them, Lilah especially_

She shrugged and continued riding into the gloom, horse and rider gradually fading into the shadows, her Igorette faithfully following, the sound of their hoof beats fading into silence.

was an almost invisible cat, who had asked Mina what was wrong just a moment ago and now was grinning very nervously.

There was an octarine shimmer around the hawk, and the light from the box diminished slightly. There was a loud bang from the cottage and a cry of "oh not the thodding teathet AGAIN!" and Granny's voice raised in wrath.

The hawk said calmly to the party "Time is getting short. Granny needs to give you a list of ingredients for a potion including forget-me-knot, and then you need to get up near the Dancers _NOW_"

"Mother!" said Aurora. "You've been following me!"

"Necessary dear. Necessary. Your Grandfather is most anxious. The Dungeon Dimensions are _leaking_"

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on April 10, 2008 08:39 AM :

Lilah ran back outside when she heard Jeannie yelling, but quickly realised she wasnt needed, so hung back.

She smiled sadlty at the sight of Samson with Mina. He would have made a great father... but she'd ruined that for him.

_best if you jsut leave_ the evil voice behind her eyes hissed. _you're nothing but trouble to these people. They dont want you here. Run away, little girl, before you get them all killed..._

LIlah tried to block the voice out. It was wrong, how dare it...but she knew deep down, that was how she felt. She WAS a danger to these people.

_the client looked after you..._ Sadly she knew this waas true. She'd escapred from him in better shape than she'd been in when he took her, and he'd given her the ability to fight. Maybe with him wasnt so bad...

**NO!** another voice in her head screamed. With that, Lilah realised how hard the client was trying to take her back. He still had control of the evil voice. The closer he was, the louder the voice got.

Lilah saw Aurora talking to a hawk and a grin, and shook her head. "And people think im weird" she muttered, and joined up with the group proper.

"Think we should get a move on. The clients getting closer."

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on April 10, 2008 12:49 PM :

Jock had been sitting on the cliff top for several days. Well, not sitting the whole time. There was that time when the moose came along and he nutted it, then ate it. There was good eating on a moose, and it made nice Kebabs...

Jock was halfway through a moose Kebab when he felt the world around him warp and squeeze and the lights went dark. A small clock whizzed around his head and then the lights came on suddenly. He was falling through the air at a great speed and Granny Weatherwax's lawn was rushing up to meet him. Jock was annoyed, he had lost his kebab on the journey and now he had landed on a small man that had a _very_ pointy hat. When Jock had composed himself he turned on the man he had landed on.

"What are yoo lookin' at yer scunner" and he began to fight the Garden gnome ferociously. Despite the fact that the inert gnome was not fighting back, or even moving, the fight was all going one way.

"Ach, the wee pointy stick has me, tak' that youse. Ah, ye cannae turn your heid to stone, tha's noot right. Cheatin' wee bugger" and with that he jumped away from the Gnome and into Mina's lap.

"where are we noo, minsy?"

Posted by **Lady Aurora Of Quirm** (Member # 5718) on April 10, 2008 03:18 PM :

Granny came out of the cottage, her face as black as thunder, and then saw

the box fizzing quietly and

the Baroness talking to a hawk and

a semi-visible cat

"The Dancers? Why on the disc - oh..."

"Yes," said the hawk "it's risky but the stones will damp down the box. If you don't, more like _him_ will turn up" and here the hawk indicated the semi-visible cat thing with its wing. "He's from a children's fantasy on Roundworld, would you believe?"

The hawk then looked directly at Granny  
"You need to give them the potion made with forget-me-not and the oil of scallatine"

Granny winced, but then headed smartly back into the cottage and came out with a small bottle, which she gave to Patrick

"Don't break it! It stinks to high heaven and will make whoever it touches forget. I can take you up to the Dancers," here Mina looked mutinous "or you can ask the box to take you there. Once up to the Dancers, none of you go in the ring of stones. None of you."

The hawk continued, "Once there, touch the box to one of the stones and _stand back_. One of you open the bottle and carefully drop two or three drops of the oil on the box then stand back again.

Hopefully the box should then forget who ensorceled it and remember its master.

Remember, only two or three drops, any more and it will forget everything!

Oh yes, and Patrick, do you think you could cast a spell from a piece of paper? Aurora dear, give him one of your copies of Minniver's Malefic Muddlement. If you use that on anyone dangerous who tries to stop you, and throw the rest of the bottle at them, that'll fix them."

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on April 10, 2008 03:20 PM :

Having completely closed the box, Mina accepted Sampson's candy reluctantly. She still remembered how scary he had been, but he seemed different now, and besides, all the scary was locked firmly inside the box. Mina then looked up to find that the weird, however, definitely wasn't.

Up in the tree was a semi-visible cat! And a bird! The bird started talking about something leaking, but Mina didn't know what. She looked at the box, worried for a moment, but relaxed when she saw that it wasn't leaking anyway.

Then feegle arrived, everyone seemed to be looking at her expectantly so Mina took the book from Sampson.  
No-one had ever bothered to teach Mina to read. She had watched other people read things and had some idea of what the letters represented, but she wasn't very good at doing it on her own. In fact, when asked if she could read, Mina's standard answer was 'only if someone else reads it first'. Still, Mina was determined to try.  
_The Granny lady's watching, she'll think I'm stupid if I can't!_  
Mina had survived in Ankh-Morpork, she was resourceful, and besides, she had quite a good memoery..

'Where's m'cow!' Mina announced  
She turned to the first page  
'Where is my cow? Is that my cow? It goes baa-baa! it a baa-baa-lamb! It's not my cow!'  
Mina looked puzzled as if trying to remember something, then continued.  
'Where is my cow? Is that my cow? It's a neigh! It's a horsie! Horse isn't a cow!' Mina giggled and explained (in case anyone had missed this) 'Cows don't go neigh! Horsies do!'  
Mina had met horses, so she felt confident about this.

She continued  
'Where is my cow? Is that my cow? It goes..' Mina peered at the word, she didn't remember this bit -_I'll make it up_ she decided, 'It goes.. umm.. Yoooauuur! It is a- um.. it is a hi' she looked at the word again, 'a hi-po-po-po-potty!' relieved, she carried on more confidently again  
'It's not my cow! Where is my cow? Is that my cow?' fed up, Mina decided that she didn't remember any more. She ended the story abruptly 'It goes moooOOOOoooooooo! That's my cow! Cows go moo! And they all lived happily ever after! The End.'

Mina beamed at everyone. _I read it!_ Then she realised that people were looking at her a bit strangely.

At this moment Lilah joined the group and made her announcement.

The granny lady also started giving out orders. Mina looked at her sullenly  
'The box in't going anywhere, it's _closed_!'  
Mina had decided that, for now at least, she would not let any magic out of the box. The latest episode had frightened her too much for her to want to risk it.

[ April 10, 2008, 06:31 PM: Message edited by: Mina Harker ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on April 11, 2008 02:26 PM :

Patrick was relieved that the little incident with the box wasn't anything more than Jock returning to the group.

He listened carefully as he was given the instructions about the bottle and wondered exactly what would happen once the box remembered who it belonged to originally.

Minniver's Malefic Muddlement was another story; he read the paper twice before he began to understand the necessary bits and pieces.

_Oh yeah. Sure. Easy. The only danger in messing this one up is that I get to spend the rest of my existence as a string of atoms floating aimlessly through the dungeon dimensions. No problem there....._

"Uh, thanks. This'll help."

The wizard added one more reason to despise Ridcully to his already significant list.

_Maybe I won't use the whole bottle on whatever is chasing us. I'll save some for that overgrown windbag of a ...._

Patrick stopped and listened to Mina reading and vaguely remembered hearing that story somewhere before. A smile crawled across his face as he watched her simply acting like a child. Not like a child in control of such an artifact as the box.

His ears pricked up at Lilah's announcement and figured she was right.

"Tell you what, if you all agree, I say we get the horses watered and fed, load the coach with whatever we removed earlier...but let's have a quick dinner before setting out again."

He knew that Granny would be anxious to get them on their way and out of her hair, so the mention of dinner was not only for their benefit but also to watch her squirm a bit.

"By the way, how's Gytha?"

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on April 12, 2008 07:04 AM :

Jock was feeling a little disgruntled at being ignored by the rest of the party, so he jumped off Mina's knee. He recalled the feegle on the hawk telling him to wait and wondered. The clock whizzing round his head made him think he had travelled in time, and as nothing much had happened in his absence he decided that he must have travelled backwards... and realisation dawned. with a bound he was up the tree and hands clamping about the hawk.

"noo see here mister, yoo are goin' to tak' mee too a wee place ah ken, elsewise youse will feel mah little finger in a rather uncoomfortable place, ye with me?" the hawk nodded "right, soo lets go." and with that they were soaring off to warn himself that everything was alright.

When he returned, the Hawk suddenly changed his mind about the compliancy that he had so far shown, and began to do some rather stunning maneuvers around Granny's hut trying to shake his passenger off.

"ach, yer wee scunner, do yes want a face full o' heid?" and Jock flung himself over the bird and nutted him before falling to the ground...  
Right on top of Patrick holding the little vial of potion. Jock hit the vial square, and the contents drenched him completely.

"I...Who...Where?"

[ April 12, 2008, 07:06 AM: Message edited by: Jock ]

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on April 12, 2008 03:45 PM :

Mina sat there, not sure what to do next. She looked around as people went on decideing what to do next.

She ate the candy.

She looked around again, and noticed the feegle talking to the hawk. Interested, she watched the feegle get onto the hawk's back and fly overhead.  
'Heeheeheeheehee! The freegle flies! Zoooooom! Heeheeheeheeheehee!'

She watched giggling as the feegle did a spectacular nose-dive and catapulted into the bottle the wizard was holding.  
'Uh-oh! Ooops! Heeheehee!'

The contents of the bottle tipped all over the feegle and the hawk. Jock was quite evidently confused and when he said "who-where?", Mina helpfully replied  
'Here! Mr Jocky freegle!'

The bird was wandering round disorientated making small cheeping noises. Mina, not understanding what had just happened, found this funny.  
'Heeheehee'

A beetle was walking along in the grass minding it's own business. Mina watched it. It ran into the blue feegle-form, and in it's high-pitched insect voice, Mina heard it say _  
Huh! Why aren't I at home? What did I come out for again?_  
It made a u-turn and went away again in the direction that it had come from. Meanwhile the feegle was still dripping the gloopy potion and looking puzzled.

Posted by **Lady Aurora Of Quirm** (Member # 5718) on April 12, 2008 03:51 PM :

The contents of the vial splashed over Jock, and also splattered Patrick, Mina, the box and anyone nearby.

Aurora, and Granny started to back off as the overwhelming stench of scallatine filled the garden.

The only ones immune to the stench were those wearing it...

[ April 12, 2008, 03:54 PM: Message edited by: Lady Aurora Of Quirm ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on April 13, 2008 05:11 AM :

As soon as the bottle had been produced Jeannies nose had detected the stink of the scallatine and she had sensibly backed off to a safe distance. Now the stench had trebled since the bottle had been uncorked and it had her doubled over, almost resting on all fours, as she gasped trying to get a clean breath. The oil smelt bad enough to a human but to a werewolf it was like nothing on the disc

The stink caught in her throat and she gagged again, managing to co-ordinate her limbs enough to move she backed off even further until she was leant against a tree, the breeze had thankfully changed and was carrying the stench in the opposite direction. her eyes were watering and she dabbed them with her sleeve as she breathed deeply trying to smell somthing other than the scallatine.

Slowly recovering from the assault on her senses Jeannie watched the events unfolding in the witches garden

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on April 13, 2008 01:15 PM :

The wizard formerly known as Patrick looked around with a bit of an amused expression on his face.

"Erm."

_This is....uh. Hmmmm._

Standing up, he saw several people that he was sure he should know; after all it wasn't like him to just turn up in stange woods with random groups of people....was it?

"Hello? I'm a little...Sorry, but who are you people and what are we doing here?"

From somewhere down below he could hear a voice and looked down in time to see something blue scurry in the direction of his leg.

"Gaaaah!"

With one giant leap, the wizard mangaed to clear both the creature and the little girl sitting close by.

"What is that?!"

Turning to run, he came face to face with a stern and distinguished face that only belong to a witch.

"AAaaaaAAAaaaH!"

Not knowing what to do next he felt an overwhelming sense of...something unfamiliar and decided to freeze in place.

Closing his eyes tight, bowing his head and retreating as far as possible into his own skin, the wizard cried out.

"Will SOMEONE please tell me what is happening here? Who are all you people?"

_More importantly, who am I?_

[ April 13, 2008, 01:18 PM: Message edited by: Thumpy ]

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on April 13, 2008 01:36 PM :

Twilight panicked when Patrick began to freak out and did what all cats were expected to do in this situation and dashed up the tree

Sitting on the branch shecalmed down as Patrick did, momentarily crouching as he shouted. Gathering herself together, she climbed out of the tree and padded over to Patrick, making a point to knowck the feegle out of her way. Attempting to calm the wizard down, she clawed her way up his back and rested on his shoulder, and performed her world famous cute and cuddley kitty routine

"Mew?" she purred sweetly, which roughly translated into, _"I'm going to get that feegle for this,"_

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on April 13, 2008 02:39 PM :

"Mew? Mew! That's all you can say? Mew-

The wizard opened his eyes and saw the cat sitting on his shoulder.

"Oh. Sorry."

Deciding that this was at least a start, he quickly added, "Okay, so apart from the cat...does anyone _else_ have something they'd like to say right about now?"

Posted by **Lady Aurora Of Quirm** (Member # 5718) on April 14, 2008 06:07 AM :

Aurora called her Vanity to her - at which point the Box grew legs and wandered out of Mina's lap to examine the Vanity.

Meanwhile Granny dashed back inside the cottage and started rummaging in one of her cupboards.

Wile Aurora rummaged in the Vanity, the Box rubbed itself up against the Vanity, and changed its size and colour to match it. It's behaviour was so catlike everyone was transfixed by the sight of two boxes "sniffing" each other. Just as soon as Aurora came up with a little leather bag, the Vanity shut its lid and ran on little legs into the bushes at the end of the garden, promptly pursued by the Box.

The bush began to shake violently.

Aurora blushed a bright red and then said, "Er, right, YOU" pointing to Patrick "are Patrick, a wizard of great power" and gave Patrick a small shiny pebble from the leather bag and looked directly into his eyes. and gave her a hug.

She went on doing this to other party members who had been splattered. Finally she held out a hand to the hawk and whistled, and it came down her wrist. She looked deeply into the eyes of the hawk, and said something in a series of cheeps and clicks grew tentacles and reached into the bush.

The bush shook even more violently and there were load snapping sounds. A high-pitched screaming filled the air and the tree recoiled, minus several tentacles and reverted to a somewhat battered (but still animated) tree.

An avenue of mown grass between two lines of similar stones led invitingly to the ring.

The noises that the dwarf had been reacting to were now clear, insects were hovering around one or two of the stones in the avenue. One of the nearer stones was, for want of a better word, _whining_ intermittently.

Suddenly there was a **twang** from the woods and the whining stone sprouted a black crossbow bolt, and the whining became a howl.

The stone flickered and then resolved as a brutish humanoid in armour,

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on May 04, 2008 03:20 PM :

Samson followed the others towards Dancers. He stayed secluded in himself, not talking to the others. When they approched Dancers, he let out a sigh of relief, it was finally over...or not. Samson's face contorted into anger as the stones began to transform. He drew his sword and began to charges when he felt something wrap around his middle. He looked down then back at the forrest, and saw the large tentacle extending out of the forrest, that had wraped itself around him. With a long face Samson looked at Lilah and said.  
"I love you" then was yanked into the forrest with one last terrified scream.

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on May 04, 2008 04:03 PM :

Jeannie approached the stones cautiously, every hair on her body standing on end. Somethign wasn't right, the air felt...charged

When things began to get weird she pulled Mina closer to her. The only goal she had in mind at the moment was to protect this child with her last living breath.

She let a deep growl rip from her throat as the first minion began to approach

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on May 04, 2008 04:36 PM :

Twilight jumped down and in front of Mina, she was only a two foot calico, but she was a two foot calico with alleycat blood, and she was not about to let _anything_ get to the girl, a fifty foot troll could not have moved her from her spot guarding the young witch, as she bared her fangs and claws, and got ready to fight

Posted by **Jock** (Member # 5653) on May 04, 2008 04:46 PM :

A forgotten fury filled Jock at the sight of the living monoliths, and he launched himself into the air and onto the trolls. His beserker rage fuelled him in a desperate attack, but with a bat of it's hand, the troll caught Jock and he lay unmoving on the grass where he fell, limbs at unnatural angles.

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on May 05, 2008 06:08 AM :

Orcakeline took her axe out and advanced two steps towards plugged out Jock from the snake hole he fell in and gave him a drop of water.

The dwarf then took two more steps to the forest and killed the tentacle-thing at first sight.

A horrible scream filled the air and everyone had to cover their ears.

Orcakeline couldn't stand it so she crashed her dwarf bread in every single tentacle-creature's head she could and started killing them one by one.

She wasn't going to abandon her friends and neither was she going to let those ugly creatures take Samson away ,so she kicked and killed and hurt all the tentacle-creations and soon she made her way to the first ,her bread couldn't help her now,but she grabbed her axe tight and hit the stone.  
A small piece of stone fell,but the stone fought back and now the dwarf had to retreat.

_Those bastards!They're harder than I thought!Argh.._

Orcakeline fell for her axe and hit all the creatures that were in her got out of the dreaded forest and ran towards Patrick.

"Wizard,Patrick or whatever you think you are,please imagine you can cast that "turn stone into wood" spell so we could just get rid of those huge if you aren't sure you can do it,you might just manage.I mean..er..."

But the dwarf didn't have time to finish for the tentacle creatures were drawing closer and closer towards the group.

Orcakeline continued kicking and killing the monsters,but she knew she couldn't hold them for the first time in years,she needed help fighting some monsters.

[ May 05, 2008, 06:11 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on May 05, 2008 06:39 AM :

Lilah held back a scream when Samson was dragged away, and instead focussed on the fight in front of her. The slimy tentacle thing in front of them wasnt the client - he didnt fight if he could help it, and in any case he was the giant tentacle that had taken Samson.

Lilah unsheathed her sword and leapt into the fight.

Posted by **Lady Aurora Of Quirm** (Member # 5718) on May 05, 2008 01:58 PM :

Aurora turned on Midnight and saw Samson being dragged into the forest, by a much larger version of the tentacled horrors on the avenue.

and he burst out of the the forest towards the armoured trolls, horn lowered, as bolt after bolt came raining from Aurora's bow at the trolls. She sheathed her sword and drew a stick as long as her forearm from under her cloak.

At the same time she screamed at Patrick, "Take this and get Mina to the stones. But for the love of all gods, don't step inside!"

A troll reached towards Patrick only to be hit head on by Midnight and skewered by the horn protruding from his forehead before being hurled backwards, twitching.

As Aurora drew level with Patrick she handed him the stick "Use this on anyone who stops you"

She then drew her black rapier and turned back to the fray, but her sword made no real impression on the trolls, although each bolt that hit a troll penetrated and clearly weakened and disoriented them.

Meanwhile Igorette had stealthily crept to the edge of the action, and dashed forward, picked up the inert Jock, ran for cover, and poured the contents of a bottle containing a green foaming, fuming liquid down the Feegle's throat.

[ May 05, 2008, 02:18 PM: Message edited by: Lady Aurora Of Quirm ]

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on May 05, 2008 05:07 PM :

Annie had returned to her usual confused state as strange events unfolded around her. She looked at whatever the tentacley things were, and got scared as she realised that she had left the bag with the dagger in it somewhere back at Granny's house. She spent around a minute feeling defenceless, until she remembered something important. She closed her eyes and changed into a wolf as fast as she could with her still limited experience. Excitement flooded through her now four-legged form. Forget the stupid dagger. She had teeth, and all of a sudden they were infintely more useful. She ran at the things that looked like they were supposed to be attacked, and any anxiety that she might have had as a human was gone. She growled strangely, a growl that had never been practiced or even tried before, and set about being more helpful than human Annie could ever have been.

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on May 09, 2008 03:10 PM :

Patrick stood terrified at the sight of those...those... _things_ coming toward the group!

Orcakeline and the others were putting up a decent fight but all he could do was stand there - until he was given the 'stick'.

He looked at it for a second, absolutley dumbfounded. "Wha- hey! You've all got swords and axes and (gulp) teeth and things - and all I get is this stick?

He gripped it tighter in his hand - and that's when he felt it; a small vibration almost as if the thing were humming to itself - it was moving?

_This is real isn't it? It's a...a...wand or something! They really do think I'm a wizard! Oh no...._

This thing, a beast that he would only have believed existed in nightmares, sprang to life in front of him and took a step towards the group! He had to do something! Oh why, oh why had he agreed to come along!

What had the dwarf said? 'Turn stone to wood' or something, right?

He pointed the wand at the closest creature and flicked his wrist as he shouted, "Wood!"

Nothing happened.

"Wood!"

Again nothing.

_Oh this is useless!_

While he had been focused on the wand, Patrick hadn't seen yet another monster approach from behind. A hand reached out and grabbed onto his shoulder. With a shout and a jump that any alley cat would have been proud of, Patrick turned in midair to face the thing that had touched him.

Fear, one of the oldest motivators known to man throughout the universe coursed through his body. Every nerve and fiber in his being cried out to him, _fight or fly!_

Later, if asked about it, Patrick wouldn't be able to say exactly what had happened next, but in that moment he pointed the wand at the figure in front of him and felt a surge of power run through his entire body.

**VERTO SAXUM AD SILVA**

There was no flash, no spark, no sound at all - but the creature was definitely wood. It had _always_ been wood hadn't it?

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on May 09, 2008 07:17 PM :

Lalah wassurprised when the trolls turned to wood, but figured that they'd gotten thir wizard back, if only for a moment.

But wood or not, the creatures were still threatening, and Lilah fired a crossbow bolt through the head of the one closest to Patrick, then the one closest to her, which had just grabbed ahold of her sword. IT hit the ground, and Lilah picked up her sword and continued with the fight.

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on May 10, 2008 01:23 AM :

Samson struggled against the tentacle but to now avail. It suddnly stopped than a voice ripped through his head

" _Tell your friends to stop and surennder_ "

"never"

Pain ripped through Samson. Unbelivible pain. He screamed.

" _TELL THEM!!!_ "

"ne-ne-never"

more pain ripped through Samson and he broke, much to his shame.

"Please, God, Surrender. Please stop fighting. Lilah! Jeannie! I can't take it! SURRENDER!" He puncuated it with another scream of pain.

[ May 10, 2008, 12:39 PM: Message edited by: SGT. Knocker ]

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on May 10, 2008 06:29 AM :

Mina was hanging tightly onto Jeannie's hand. Once more the situation was terrifying.  
'I don't like scary monsters!' Mina said in a grumpy, angry tone of voice. She looked up at Jeannie  
'Why do the scary slimy monsters follow lady 'roara?' she asked 'Do they like her? I don't like them.'

Mina grabbed the box from out of her pocket and thought it open. _No more monsters! Make them go away!_ Mina thought of nice things to make the monsters go away.

There was a large squeaky Pop! noise, and suddenly, the monsters that had not been turned to wood by the wizard, changed. In their places were several huge lollipops and a large pink rubber pony.  
A shocked silence ensued, and was broken by Mina saying loudly  
'That's better!'

Mina closed the box and then jumped up and down.  
'Look! Magic! Look!'  
Mina tugged on Jeannie's arm and asked  
'Can we go now? I don't think I like 'dventures much any more.'

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on May 10, 2008 09:52 AM :

The sudden change in the scenery made Twilight jump up to head height with Mina, landing not so gracefully back onto the ground, she heard Mina's words, and nodded, she was beginning to resent these adventures as well, and she was also growing homesick for the nostalgic sounds and smells of Ankh-Morpork

_"Yes, Mina,"_ she mewed, _"I think leaving here right now would be a very good idea"_

Posted by **Lady Aurora Of Quirm** (Member # 5718) on May 10, 2008 05:19 PM :

Aurora sat on Midnight's back and **blinked**, mouth agape.

"Er, Mina?" she said "well done! That was really clever what you did"

"Patrick - they've turned to wood - I think everyone should be able to handle that"

She heard the screams of "Surrender" from the forest and turned Midnight towards the Client, and charged, yelling "Samson - you're a zombie - he can't influence you like he did, throw it off!"

Midnight _blurred_ and vanished from the fight with his rider.

Aurora and Midnight were on a plain of black sand - facing Bel-Shamharoth and several creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions.

"Surrender?" she said "your minions are gone. You cannot corrupt the child. And as for _these_" she waved her glowing black rapier threateningly at the nearest misshapen shadowy creatures and laughed as they flinched, "they are no threat to anyone. You cannot even turn the wizard, his mind is so unfocused."

Bel-Shamharoth turned its full attention to Aurora, and she paled slightly

_THERE IS STILL YOU, AND YOU ARE ALMOST IN MY GRASP_

"Grandpa might have something to say about that. so might Lord Mort. And I'm not afraid - he's more of a friend to me than most humans I meet."

At that last, a black-robed figure holding a scythe appeared, atop a white horse.

KIND WORDS, AURORA?

"Yes, My Lord. For you, always for you."  
Midnight had calmed down, and Aurora put away her crossbow, but still held her sword. The Vanity opened its lid and a few more of the shapeless shadowy creatures flinched and moved away.

THE OUTCOME DEPENDS ON YOUR COMPANIONS NOW.

Death held up two life timers, one large in jet, twined with black tentacles, and another smaller one in silver shot with jet, which confusingly seemed to flow into itself.

_YOU WOULD PUT __**ME**__ IN THE BALANCE WITH THESE MORTALS?_

AURORA IS NOT EXACTLY MORTAL. SHE IS **DIFFERENT**  
AND... **YOU** STARTED THIS, BEL-SHAMHAROTH

Aurora settled down to wait, distracting Bel-Shamharoth as much as she could, circling.

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on May 12, 2008 08:40 AM :

Lilah heard Samson screaming, and, ducking under the arm of one of the few remaining trolls, she ran towards the noise. There was a sudden feeling of deja-vu, seeing Samson wrapped up in a tentacle. She brought her sword down on the tentacle holding Samson, surprised that she was able to do the exact same thing she'd done the last time Samson had been in this situation.

"You're dead, hun" she said kindly to samosn as the tentacle retreated. "He cant hurt you. Dont forget it and you'll be fine."

Lilah still couldnt believe that Mr Tentacle had fallen for the same move twice, that she wasnt really paying attention when a tentacle lifted her up, and threw her against a tree. Lilah groaned, and slipped into unconsciousness...

[ May 12, 2008, 08:54 AM: Message edited by: adie ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on May 13, 2008 06:41 AM :

Patrick stood there for a second trying to figure out what to do next, but then he remembered what Aurora had said; get Mina to the stones!

Looking around he saw her standing defiantly against the chaos. She wasn't afraid, in fact she maybe looked more determined thatn anything.

"Mina! Mina - over here! let's go!"

He looked over to where the 'Dancers' stood. Oh heck, now what was it she had said? 'get the box to the center but go in' or "go the center _with_ the box'?

Still holding the wand tightly, he kept it out in front of him, half wishing he had a crossbow instead of a stick. He wasn't absolutely sure how to reproduce the effect he'd had on the creatures. They still stood there like wooden statues; how long would that last?

_If only we had some fire or something?_

Looking at Mina, he asked, "Ah, you're a witch or something right? How do we make fire? We could use that right about now."

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on May 17, 2008 07:39 PM :

Lilah groaned and opened her eyes, then shut then straight away. The light was too bright. She wished someone would shut the curtains. Wait...what? THen she noticed other things, like the fact that a doona was over her, and she was laying in a bed. This wasnt right. Had she missed the whole fight?

"Did we win?" she murmured, sensing someone standing next to her.

"Lilah you're awake!" a female voice exclaimed. It was a voice she hadnt heard in a very long time.

"Mum?" Lilah asked, opening her eyes a crack. "But you're..."

"I'm right here." Lilah turned her head towards the sound of the voice, and opened her eyes further. Standing there was her mother and father, both of whom looked extremely worried. Finally, she noticed where she was. She was laying in her bed, in her room, at her parrents house. Confusion took control of Lilah's brain.

"What am i doing here? There was a fight, and a giant tentacle, and i was thrown against a tree"

"Just a dream hun" Lilahs mother sat on the edge of the bed. "You fell down the stairs, hit your head pretty badly. The doctors told us you probably wouldnt wake up."

The panic caused by the confusion started to setting. Giant tentacle monsters didnt exist, and Lilah would have no reason to go gallavanting around in the forest. But the horrible feeling that her mother shouldnt be alive refused to go away.

"It was so real..."

"You've been in a coma for months" Her father spoke up. "They warned us this woould happen. The dreams werent real."

Lilah began to sit up, even though it was difficult to move. her mother helped her up, propping Lilahs back up with some pillows.

"Mum your hands are so cold" Lilah said, shivering. The horrible feeling that something wasnt right came back. "Wheres Samson?" she asked, looking wildly around the room.

"I've sent someone to the bank to get him." her mother soothed, and Lilah relaxed again. She was remembering everything now. She'd married Samosn six months before, and they now lived in a wing of her parents estate while their own place was being built. Samson worked at the bank, and been promoted so often and so fast he was now the youngest member of the executive team.

At that moment, Samson appeared. It took Lilah a moment to recognise him, still expecting to see the handsome muscle bound mercinary she'd been dreaming of, which didnt match up with the overweight man in a suit who walked in. But his face lit up when he saw her, and he practically lauched himself at her, hugging her tightly. She could feel his breath on her neck, and the coldness of his hands.

"Why are you all so cold?" It all made no sense. A small voice in Lilah's mind started screaming, and lilah couldnt help but notice the momentary look of panic that crossed her fathers face. "This isnt right."

She pushed Samson off her, and climbed out of the bed. The floor froze her feet.

"This isnt right. This is not my life." She grabbed the poker from the fireplace, then moved towards the door. "I've got to get out of here."

"Lilah you need to give your brain a chance to readjust." her mother said, as her father edged towards her. The screaming voice in Lilahs mind grew louder. Everything started to make sense.

"No. My brain is fine. Its this place that isnt." She glared at her father. "How dare you do this. How dare you bring her back! She could feel herself starting to slip from this place and back to reality. "I dream of this. How dare you use it against me!" He'd gotten closer. She held the poker like a sword. "Stay back! Im leaving, sont try to stop me."

"Sweetie dont go" Her mother pleaded. "I love you so much, dont leave me." Inside, Lilahs heart broke. This was the right thing to do, wasnt it?

"yes Lilah, dont go". Samson added. "Your daughter needs you. I need you." Suddenly Samson was holding a baby, and the broken pieces of Lilahs heart broke further.

"How dare you offer me all this!" SHe screamed at her father. "All the things i cant have! The things i dream of..." Her fathers expression changed.

"It could all be yours. This could be real, i can bring them back. Here you have everything you want. Out there you have a dead boyrfriend and the blame for the death of your mother. I'm giving you a second chance."

"But in exchange for what? With you, the price is always too high." Tears rolled down Lilahs face. "I'd love it if this were real. But its not, and never will be. Even if what you say is true, in the back of my mind i'll know this is all fake."

"This IS real. Its a real as where you were before."

"Oh yeh? Then what's the name of my daughter?"

He looked lost at that question.

"You dont know the answer? Its a simple question. If this were real she'd have a name. And i've had my heart set on one name since i was seven." Still no response. Lilah stepped closer to her father. "This ends now. Mum, i love you so much."

She stabbed her father with the poker, and woke up back in the forest.

[ May 17, 2008, 07:45 PM: Message edited by: adie ]

Posted by **Thumpy** (Member # 4984) on May 22, 2008 05:16 PM :

Patrick sat in the rocking chair in front of his small house and watched the wind play across the field in front of him. The sun hung low in the sky, the air was cool but not uncomfortably so, and dinner was cooking on the fire inside.

He'd become quite the cook in the last few years - well, it was either that or starve and he wasn't about to do that.

If asked, he wouldn't remember too much of those few minutes among the Dancers; he hadn't completely recovered from the accident with the potion, but that was never a disability for him.

Every now and again though, a stray thought would suddenly come to the front and present itself for consideration; a memory of Ankh-Morpork, men running around in pointy hats and robes, a werewolf or three, a dwarf, zombies. Somwhere in there was a little blue figure that could move with alarming speed. Those weren't the most clear however; the sharpest was of a little girl holding that damnable box that seemed to be causing so much trouble.

There had been a last flash of light, hadn't there? A figure appearing out of the mist reaching for the box, a look. A word.

At some point during these memories, Patrick would end up with a heck of a headache. A few minutes of focusing on something else would cure that though.

He'd seen that girl again over the last couple of...months? Years? He was grateful for her visits and always enjoyed their conversations. Being off the beaten trail as he was, he didn't get many people calling and rarely heard news from outside of Ecalpon. Mina would always make sure his pantry was stocked and the animals were well.

This was Ecalpon, right? Sometimes he wasn't sure.

It was the 'moments' that made him unsure of things. Sometimes he'd think about lighting a fire for tea, and he'd find one already crackling away in the fireplace, or when he'd wanted to plant his garden that day - and found it already blossoming by the time he'd come back with the seeds....it was those moments that made him wonder.

He was getting on in years, maybe he was just forgetting things he'd already done. Maybe.

Last night he was sure he'd heard a wolf howling from the treeline, which was a little strange because Ecalpon wasn't known for its wolf population. When he had come out to look, he could swear he'd seen a dwarf in full armor standing just over...there, by the old oak.

Now and again he caught sight of what appeared to be a woman in a black cloak walking by along the trail. He could never be sure.

The smell coming through the doorway told him it was time for dinner. Patrick stood up, leaning on his staff, gave one last look across the field and went inside.

The end for Patrick.

Posted by **Blazing Moon** (Member # 4522) on May 23, 2008 02:16 PM :

Twilight walked along the crowded streets, following loyally at a young girl's heels, and she suddenly began to think back to a distant memory, and sighed to herself

_Damn near impossible fight, that had been,_ she thought, _I don't know what we would have done if it was not for Mina and Patrick's magic_ she was struggling to keep up with the girl at this point, the battle had left the calico with a rip in her left ear, and a limp in her paw, for a vicious alleycat, she really looked the part now, and after the whole ordeal was finally over, the wizard and witch had combined their magic for another spell, and now Twilight walked, the human half of her mind completely gone, just like it had never been there, to begin with

"Twilight," said a voice, and the alleycat looked up at the sound of her name, the girl was standing over her, and smiling "come on, girl, let's get home, Nova's waiting"

and, with a grateful mew, Twilight allowed herself to be picked up, the nametag on her purple ribbon jingling, as they moved along, and went home

*************************

the end for Twilight

[ May 23, 2008, 02:21 PM: Message edited by: Blazing Moon ]

Posted by **AniloracTeatime** (Member # 5285) on May 24, 2008 08:21 AM :

When Annie went back to being human, she felt a strange mixture of tranquility and sadness. Everything that had happened- it was now pretty much over. "Everyone's just gonna go their seperate ways, and I'll have to go home," she thought to herself, tears coming to her eyes. Those very eyes changed for a second to look vaguely wolfish, and she rememebered once again that she couldn't go home. Her parents wouldn't mind how she had changed in that respect, but they would mind the fact that she would argue with them now. Perhaps she had grown while following this strange group and their strange box.

She walked over to Jeannie, remembering what had been said to her back when they were in that inn. "You were teaching me to be a good werewolf, and I want to keep learning. Now that there's no box... I don't know about you but I have nothing much to do anymore. Please help me."

She waited for an answer. In her mind she saw her happy ending, wolves running out to somewhere in the distance. It was like something from a dream, or a painting. She could see her happy ending. She had been staring at her feet, and now she looked up. She felt guilty for putting her future in Jeannie's hands, but she needed an answer to know what her real ending was going to be.

(out-of-character: this will properly be an ending once Annie actually gets Jeannie's answer. I wanted this to be the ending since everyone else seems to be finishing up but I don't want to be controlling someone else's character so I'll just wait.)

[ May 24, 2008, 08:23 AM: Message edited by: AniloracTeatime ]

Posted by **Jeannie** (Member # 4480) on May 24, 2008 10:10 AM :

Jeannie held a strip of her shirt around the gash on her arm. When the creatures had appeared she had attacked any that came to close to Mina and had taken more than her fair share of knocks. Having only just woken up she was unsure of what exactly had happened once the creatures has disappeared, she had seen Patrick and Mina approach the stones, there was light, blinding light and she was sure she saw a figure in the mist that poured from the seemingly empty grass clearing inside the stones but then everything had gone black, as if whatever was causing it didn't wish for any witnesses.

She had reawakened not far from where she had blacked out. Everything was quiet, her arm throbbed as blood slowly ran down her bare skin. Pushing herself up onto her knees she had torn a strip from her shirt and was binding the gash when Annie approached her

Jeannie nodded

"I know where I'm going. I'm going back to the city, back to my job, back to my life. You are welcome to come along for the ride if you want to".......

_......A couple of weeks later a pair of horses rode into the village where the group had stopped. The horses were tended to and their riders enjoyed a good meal and rest in the small inn. In the morning the innkeeper gave a letter to the blonde rider who enquired after a tall dark haired guest who had stayed there a few weeks earlier. Before the riders left to continue on their journey the innkeeper warned them to be wary when travelling in the forest, a poacher had returned to the village this morning with warning that he had seen two very large wolves running through the trees chasing rabbits during the night. The blonde rider turned to her younger female companion and they shared a knowing smile, only the slightest orange flash in her eyes gave any hint that they may be something other than human_

That had all been weeks ago now, Jeannie had returned to the city. She walked along the familiar streets, blissfully free of magical artifacts or pursuers. Life was pretty much back to what it was before that fated day when she had been handed an assignment to escort a wizard on a journey. As she walked past a cafe she glared at a thief she had dealt with this morning who was sat at one of the tables sipping coffee with another former occupant of the watch cells, but she had other things to do right now. She hurried to the Post office, it looked like she was a couple of minutes late. The coach had already arrived and the passengers were retrieving their luggage. She scanned the small group who were barging each other out of the way as though the bags would grow legs and run off if they weren't retrieved quickly enough. Her heart sank and her smile faded as she looked at each one of the passengers, not seeing the face she was looking for.

An achingly familiar voice behind her made her jump

"Looking for someone?"

She grinned and didn't turn

"Nope, just checking it out. Those coaches bring all sorts of undesirable types you know."

A low chuckle "I missed you too"

She turned now and looked at Alec, the sun light seemed to make his eyes an even brighter blue and his hair had grown a little longer since last time, it suited him. He swept the vagrant fringe out of his eyes with an easy grin that was contagious.

He held out his arm "Care for a walk miss? You can show me this city that you love so much"

Jeannie let out a soft laugh and took his arm, "Well, over here we have....."

Their banter and laughter faded from earshot as they walked away from the Post Office. The city continued to bustle, the sounds mingled with one another and faded into background noise. The world continued, oblivious that for a while it's fate had lain in a simple box held by a small girl

Posted by **Lady Aurora Of Quirm** (Member # 5718) on May 24, 2008 12:40 PM :

Many years later, Aurora sat in her grandfather's laboratory in Uberwald, trying to make sense of yet another of her father's texts on intra-dimensional twisting.

If only she could find the key to unlocking the dimensions that Midnight used with ease - all those years ago she'd faced up against Old Tentacle Face himself, and for all her confidence and arrogance she'd expected to die (or worse), and Lord Mort was there holding judgement between them (although _that_ contest was more than a little lopsided).

The party must have attacked the Client's physical avatar after all, because in _Otherwhere_ it had flinched, howled, and fled, much to Aurora's relief.

And then Lord Mort had told her a few home truths - that if she had left her father's equipment alone she might never have been transported to the party, if she hadn't been so arrogant she might have actually managed to engage with the party leader, and if she hadn't charged into _Otherwhere_ to confront Bel-Shamharoth, He would not have had to get as involved as He did.

Aurora had sat there on Midnight, white-faced, on the verge of tears, until He'd said "WELL, IT COULD HAVE BEEN WORSE. IT ENDED _RIGHT_."

"It won't happen again, Lord"

"OF COURSE IT WILL. YOU HAVE A TALENT FOR TROUBLE." Death grinned at her "AND THIS LATEST ESCAPADE IS JUST ANOTHER DEBT YOU OWE ME FOR RESCUING YOU FROM", indicating the latest notch on her lifetimer.

And then she'd come back to find Igorette bent over Jock, frantically trying to revive her, and the rest of the party staggering in, mostly wounded, with Patrick and Mina recovering from being involved in some magical event by the Dancers.

She'd felt a bit numb by it all, and it was a clear a few of the party assumed she'd fled the fight, but Igorette had delved into the Vanity for her usual remedy for her depression...

"Mithreth, tea'th ready!" came a call from the top of the dungeon steps, and Aurora came back to the present and smiled.

Faithful Igorette - never a word of reproach for having dragged her all over the Disc looking for her father's creations, and then the box.

"Not another thodding teathet!" would be Igorette's epitaph, she thought, but not for a very long time.

She closed the book she was reading and headed upstairs, wondering if she'd ever meet the group again. The werewolves, possibly, they would certainly live long enough, but the humans must be old now...

"ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE" said a voice behind her

She turned round...

[The end of this story for Aurora]

Posted by **SGT. Knocker** (Member # 5192) on May 25, 2008 02:05 PM :

Samson dropped to the ground when the Client realeased him. He just wanted to end it. Grabbing his sword he rammed it into the center of the mass of the client. There was a high pitched scream and...a puff of smoke? Samson had expected more. He shrugged and was thrown to by the magical explosion. when the light faded Samson stood up and looked around. He noticed Lilah waking up from being thrown against a tree. He hesitated and took a note out of his pocket and placed it next to her. It said exactly how he felt. That he really did love her, but he was dead now. it just wouldnt work. he wanted her to find someone else.  
With a saddened look back at her dirction he walked off.

_Several Weeks Later..._

The man ran through the dark allyways. He turned a corner and looked back in terror. He could still hear the steady, never hurrying, footsteps. He man nearly screamed when he hit a deadend. He looked back and pressed his back up against the wall as the footsteps got closer...and closer. until they stopped right before the moonlight could revel the stalker.  
There was a flash of light as the stalker lit a match and then lit a cigar.

"You know were it is dont you?" The dark figure asked.

the man looked around widly and replied  
"What? What are you talking about?"

"Dont play around with me. You and your,Heh, Former co-workers had finnally discovered where it was."

Relief came over the mans face.

"OH! Yes. Um, The Box was thrown into another diminsion by the explosion. And it easily attainable, Any common wizzard could send you there"

Samson stepped into the light and fired his pistol bow. As the body slid to the ground. Samson smiled and said.

"Thanks."

The End of Samsons Story?

Posted by **adie** (Member # 5613) on May 26, 2008 04:07 AM :

Lilah woke up to find the client gone. Samson was missing too. Had he taken him in one final act of revenge? She couldnt be sure. She sat up, and then noticed the letter, and became quite angry and upset when she read it.

_he is right though. it could never work._ Lilah tried to ignore the voice of reason, but it didnt work. She sighed, then tore up the letter. There was no point in hanging onto the past. Glancing back through the trees, she noticed that the others had defeated the wodden troll things, and decided not to go back to them either. Now that it was over, it was highly likely JEannie would arrest Lilah, because, friend or not, Lilah did have a warrant out for her arrest. So instead she turned away, and left alone.

*Some months later*

Lilah sat in a corner at the Mended Drum, watching the latest bar brawl out of sheer boredom. It realy wasnt that interesting, she'd been involved in better. She'd returned to Ahnk Morpork not long after Samson had run off on her, as she'd received word that the warrant had been cancelled. Lilah had even returned to her family home, but her father, while he claimed to be happy to see her, acted very distant. He knew what had happened to her mother as well as she did. But she never would have stayed. The lifestyle expected of her if she stayed there wasnt one she could conform to, and the publics obsession with that coach wreck of a person, Candice, made her all the more determined for people not to realise who she really was. But her father had given her a hefty trust fund, so she finally had enough to go on that cruise to XXXX that she'd always wanted.

She'd even managed to move on from Samson, well to an extent anyway. She'd found another partner, but doubted she'd ever feel the same way about him as she did for Samson. MAybe sometime down the track she'd meet the right one, but for now, a business associate would do.

The conversation in the booth next to her caught her attention, and she listened in. A dead mercinary was killing people? Interesting.

"Lilah, i know you're listening" a gruff voice spoke out from the next booth. "You're the expert in this area, so get your arse over here."

She grinned. Things were going to get interesting.

Posted by **The little A-M dwarf** (Member # 5238) on June 01, 2008 07:54 AM :

"Yes,and it looked like ...er.... the small girl called Mina opened her Box and all the creatures died!And I was really relieved to see everyone was alright!

"But that meant that my first adventure was about to end and so I took all my things and rushed to thank everyone for being so nice to ,you know,the wizard I was talking about was still wondering what had just happened but he said a very cheerful and polite goodbye to me and so I went to hug Lilah goodbye,but she looked to shocked by Samson's sudden disappearance so I left her alone and took that long way back here,in Ankh-Morpork.

"I still didn't have a job and my father's money was about to let me starve to death so I joined the Watch and got a side job and now I feed birds and other creatures and see Jeannie and Annie every day!Isn't that a nice thing?

"And so I met you after a few years and....well...maybe we'll be friends..."

Orcakeline smiled and looked into her friend's eyes and shushed.

The other dwarf,one who as our small dwarf,didn't drink and couldn't possibly smoke was Orcakeline's first friend in Ankh-Morpork and she already got attached to him because he was gallant and sweet.

His name was however too hard to be said here,but Orcakeline knew it and that's what's important!

They strolled into the sun of Ankh-Morpork like two 47 year old walked on their favorite street:Short Street,the one on which they could spend hours walking.

The lack of light was taking over Ankh-Morpork and our two friendly souls started to disappear out of sight and into the mists of the greatest city on the Disc.

**********************************************************

The happy ending of Orcakeline's first adventure.

[ June 01, 2008, 09:14 AM: Message edited by: The little A-M dwarf ]

Posted by **Max aka Helicopterpassoverhead** (Member # 3874) on June 20, 2008 05:01 PM :

Well, this was it, then. Snuffles could swear that the last few days hadn't even happened at all. His mind was a mess, but he felt gradually better as he stomped around the rooftops of the city, as if he was coming back to his old self. True, being a small, insignificant tomcat was a lot harder now that he was used to standing up (5 feet tall he was). He had had enough change.  
He clambered off to the street, snached a helpless rat and an equally helpless hat off a possibly less innocent bystander (although AM standards for innocence were always subject to discussian) and scurried into a dwarf district. He sat down, put the hat carefully upside down on the ground, threw the rat and a coin (theres always one left, even if you havent any pockets) into it, sat down, and started to sing, never taking an eye off the hat, in case someone tried to nick it or its contents.  
Begging. Perfectly normal cat-like behaviour.

THE END

Posted by **Mina Harker** (Member # 4188) on June 23, 2008 06:14 PM :

Mina was sick of monsters and determined to get rid of them once and for all, Mina grabbed hold of Patrick's hand.

'C'mon Pack'ik! We have to touch the stones!' she said. And they did exactly that.  
A bright light flared up around them as they got to the closest dancer.  
_Go where you should be box! You have to go where you're meant to!_

Suddenly there was a crackle to the grass on which she was standing. Big men with beards peered at her.  
_'We interrupted The Game for that? Who are they anyway?'_  
A Man with a light-bolt came up and said tetchily  
_'Who are you? What do you want?'_  
'I'v a box. S'yours.'  
_'Mine, little girl? Haha I'm sorry I don't have any boxes, why don't you go home?'_ He leant over and added _'Tell you what, I'll give you your own balloon. Would you like that?'_  
'But it's a magical box! It's full of monsrs!'  
_'Full of monsters, eh?'_  
'Are you a god? My mummy said that if I didn't go to sleep, you would throw lighting at me! Will you?'  
_'errrr... probably?'_

A drunken god came up and slurred  
_'That's ma box! s'veeeeeeeeeery pow'ful'_  
And he took it from her.

*FLASH!*  
Mina was back at the stones again with the wizard, holding a balloon.

And they all went back to Ankh-Morpork and ate jammy doughnuts and sweets. Patrick was different now, but he still liked sweets and doughnuts, so Mina alwazs brought some when she visited.  
Thanks to him, Mina decided that she didn't want to be a witch, and instead eventually ended up becaming a wizard for a time at the University before getting bored and travelling the disc with her friends Twilight and Nova.

THE END


End file.
